Society is changing, moving from traditional to emerging technologies and the energy system follows the change. Nevertheless, heat is still a major player regardless of whether it is a need or as a waste. The “heat problem” crosses multiple fields. Heating and cooling, network stability, desalination and carbon capture processes are only a few of the applications in which heat is delivered, managed, converted and emitted across different temperatures.

Since 1997, the Heat Powered Cycles series of conferences have been the privileged and only forum driving innovation on heat-centred processes. The 2023 edition comes home at The University of Edinburgh, where J.C. Maxwell, R. Stirling, W. Rankine and J. Black, the fathers of the theory of heat and heat-powered devices have first moved their steps. In Edinburgh, the conference will gather people who face the issue of “Heat in the new energy system”, to boost innovation on emerging heat-centred solutions that will constitute the backbone of the forthcoming energy system.