A record-breaking summer has pushed Europe’s grids to their limits, while war, drone attacks on Ukraine’s power network and gaps in gas infrastructure are exposing the blind spots in how Europe plans its energy future. No single energy system model can fully capture these intertwined challenges, researchers argue — but connecting different ones could offer a clearer picture.

As resources grow scarcer and mountains of construction waste pile up, Europe is rediscovering an old idea: the city itself can become a source of materials. And experts say this is no longer optional: “The cities we live in will have to become the biggest mines of the coming decades.”

As electric vehicles become "batteries on wheels", hotels and airports could be only the beginning. From balancing the grid to accelerating renewable energy integration, bidirectional charging could reshape the entire energy system — provided vehicles, chargers and the grid learn to speak the same language.