Zukünftige Energie- und Industriesysteme
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The basic materials industries are a cornerstone of Europe's economic prosperity, increasing gross value added and providing around 2 million high-quality jobs. But they are also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Despite efficiency improvements, emissions from these industries were mostly constant for several years prior to the Covid-19 crisis and today account for 20 per cent of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions.
A central question is therefore: How can the basic material industries in the EU become climate-neutral by 2050 while maintaining a strong position in a highly competitive global market? And how can these industries help the EU reach the higher 2030 climate target - a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of at least 55 per cent relative to 1990 levels?
In the EU policy debate on the European Green Deal, many suppose that the basic materials industries can do little to achieve deep cuts in emissions by 2030. Beyond improvements to the efficiency of existing technologies, they assume that no further innovations will be feasible within that period. This study takes a different view. It shows that a more ambitious approach involving the early implementation of key low-carbon technologies and a Clean Industry Package is not just possible, but in fact necessary to safeguard global competitiveness.
Water is a basis for life and ecosystem health. And water, especially in regions affected by water scarcity, is a highly contested and politicised natural resource. The state-of-the-art in sustainable water resources management requires collaborative approaches that foster the integration of conflicting interests of multiple stakeholders. Achieving integration in complex and contested real life situations however remains a major challenge. Boundary work can facilitate this ambitious goal. This study evolves boundary work science to improve collaboration in the water sector. It develops a framework for boundary work that enables understanding, structuring and approaching barriers for collaborative water resources management. A case study from the Garden Route region, South Africa gives a grounded basis for the conceptual developments and further provides in-depth insights into reasons and obstacles for collaborative water resources management in a contested local case. The case study serves both: An intrinsic analysis of a conflictive case, and conceptual developments to the boundary work framework - tested against local realities.
Only three days after the beginning of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, Japan, on 11 March 2011, the German government ordered 8 of the country's 17 existing nuclear power plants (NPPs) to stop operating within a few days. In summer 2011 the government put forward a law - passed in parliament by a large majority - that calls for a complete nuclear phase-out by the end of 2022. These government actions were in contrast to its initial plans, laid out in fall 2010, to expand the lifetimes of the country's NPPs.
The immediate closure of 8 NPPs and the plans for a complete nuclear phase-out within little more than a decade, raised concerns about Germany's ability to secure a stable supply of electricity. Some observers feared power supply shortages, increasing CO2-emissions and a need for Germany to become a net importer of electricity.
Now - a little more than a year after the phase-out law entered into force - this paper examines these concerns using (a) recent statistical data on electricity production and demand in the first 15 months after the German government's immediate reaction to the Fukushima accident and (b) reviews the most recent projections and scenarios by different stakeholders on how the German electricity system may develop until 2025, when NPPs will no longer be in operation.
The paper finds that Germany has a realistic chance of fully replacing nuclear power with additional renewable electricity generation on an annual basis by 2025 or earlier, provided that several related challenges, e.g. expansion of the grids and provision of balancing power, can be solved successfully. Already in 2012 additional electricity generation from renewable energy sources in combination with a reduced domestic demand for electricity will likely fully compensate for the reduced power generation from the NPPs shut down in March 2011.
If current political targets will be realised, Germany neither has to become a net electricity importer, nor will be unable to gradually reduce fossil fuel generated electricity. Whether the reduction in fossil fuel use will be sufficient to adequately contribute to national greenhouse gas mitigation targets significantly depends on an active policy to promote electricity savings, continuous efforts to increase the use of renewables and a higher share of natural gas (preferably used in combined heat and power plants) in fossil fuel power generation.
Die Energiewende stellt eine gesellschaftliche Herausforderung dar und bedarf neuer Arbeitskonzepte. Diese These vertreten Uta von Winterfeld und Adelheid Biesecker in ihrem Beitrag "Bitte zweimal wenden! - Die Transformation der Energie- und Arbeitswelt". Ausgehend davon, dass die Energiewende einer sozial-ökonomischen Revolution gleichkomme und die Geschichte der Energie eine Geschichte steigender Arbeitsproduktivität sei, weswegen regenerative Energiequellen wie Sonne und Wind die Entwicklung bedrohen und zu einer Rückkehr zu einer früheren zivilisatorischen Phase führen würden, zeigen die Autorinnen, dass man zu letzterer Einsicht nur dann gelangt, wenn man die Energiewende ohne die notwendige Arbeitswende betrachtet. Damit die Energiewende nicht nur gelingt, sondern auch wirtschaftlich und gesellschaftlich positiv verläuft, braucht es laut Autorinnen eine Neuorganisation von Energie und Arbeit.