On the afternoon of March 29, 2026, Professor Yan Jinyue from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University paid an invited visit to the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Beijing Institute of Technology and gave an academic lecture entitled Urban energy transformation through integrated systems. Faculty and students of the center attended the lecture.

In this lecture, Professor Yan shared insights around the cutting‑edge topic of “AI for energy, or energy for AI”. He stressed that the relationship between artificial intelligence and energy systems should be understood from a two‑way interaction perspective, and proposed integrating “human‑time‑space” dimensions to expand the research framework for urban energy studies. Professor Yan also presented progress made by his team in urban 3D modelling, data platform development and multi‑city case analyses. Combined with building energy conservation, photovoltaic cooling and the construction of urban indicator systems, he demonstrated the application potential of cross‑disciplinary technological innovation. After the lecture, faculty and students held in‑depth discussions with Professor Yan on topics including incorporating human behaviours into system optimization, urban evaluation indicators and data accuracy, as well as application prospects of large language models in research.

Yan Jinyue is Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, and Chair Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a leading researcher in renewable energy, energy systems, climate change mitigation and environmental policy. He earned his doctoral degree from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and once served as Chair Professor in Sweden. He has published more than 400 papers, obtained over 10 patents, supervised 200 post‑doctoral researchers and 50 PhD candidates. Over the past decade, he has secured external research funding exceeding 20 million euros and led the Future Energy Landscape Platform. He has received prestigious awards including the Global Human Settlements Green Technology Award, Energy Island Award, and IAGE Lifetime Achievement Award.