• Energy Research
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Perennial grasslands play an important role as an extensive CO2 sink. Fodder and biofuels can be produced in an ecologically acceptable manner on such sites. Projected future climate-change scenarios suggest that Central Europe’s grasslands will be increasingly affected by drought. In order to determine whether there is potential for some alternative drought-adapted grass species to contribute to herbage production for either forage or biomass, we tested the agronomic performance of ten grass species (Agropyron elongatum, Agropyron intermedium, Agropyron desertorum, Agropyron trachycaulum, Elymus hoffmannii, Elymus junceus, Bromus inermis, Bromus marginatus, Festuca arundinacea and Panicum virgatum) in comparison to four reference grasses (Dactylis glomerata, Arrhenatherum elatius, Agrostis gigantea and Agropyron repens). Experiments were conducted in small-plot cutting trials at two sites across two growing seasons with either one or multiple cuts per season. In the one-cut system, P. virgatum provided the highest average annual dry matter (DM) yield (14 258 kg ha–1), followed by A. elongatum (13 086 kg ha–1). The multi-annual persistence of these two species under the experimental conditions was given only when P. virgatum was not harvested before freezing off and A. elongatum was harvested only once per year. Moreover, both species are susceptible to lodging. In the multiple-cut system, F. arundinacea showed a high yield (12 533 kg DM ha–1 average annual yield) and a low presence of associated weeds (only 0.1% surface area). Cultivating this grass species requires considering its only moderate competitiveness during the establishment phase. Based on the rapid establishment of A. trachycaulum, this species is expected to be best suited as a cover crop in seed mixtures. The yields of A. desertorum, A. trachycaulum, A. repens, E. junceus and B. marginatus were below the experimental average (9255 kg DM ha–1 at multiple cuttings). DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2014.06.01, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2014.06.01

Policy makers see electrified vehicles (EV) as one instrument to reduce local air pollution and also towards a mitigation of climate change. It is known that the “real driving” energy demand of conventional vehicles is significantly higher than the norm consumption. However, there is limited knowledge for the real-world energy demand and charging patterns of EV fleets. Furthermore, first user experiences are important for the uptake of the electrified vehicles. There are not many studies in this field either. Last but not least, the environmental effects of electrified vehicles should be compared with the conventional vehicles in order to assure the positive effect. There are several studies, which compared the well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions from conventional and electrified vehicles. However, most of these studies took the yearly electricity mix as basis for the calculations. Therefore, this paper aims to close this knowledge gap by measuring the energy consumption of the electrified vehicle fleets with vehicle data loggers. Furthermore, information on user experiences are gathered by questionnaires. The intentions and expectations are compared and contrasted with the real world driving behaviour of the users. Within the government funded project InitiativE-BW, which started in summer 2014, more than 44 battery electric vehicles (BEV) have been equipped with data loggers in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The project consortium consists of leasing companies, a research institute and a public relations manager to promote the project in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The data loggers are intended to run until the end of 2016. The EVs are mostly used by commercial fleets e.g. in social services, car sharing, IT-services and municipalities. The data logged includes hours of operation, state of charge (SoC), mileages driven, speed statistics and GPS information. First results show that varying ambient temperatures have a significant influence on the BEV energy consumption. Average energy consumption is up to 45% higher during winter months. The influence of the charging behaviour of the users is analysed to evaluate the CO2 emissions of the vehicles based on hourly electricity consumption and specific emission profiles of the available power sources, which might significantly deviate from the yearly electricity mix of the country. Among all participants of InitiativE-BW, expectations and experiences with leased EVs are repeatedly evaluated through questionnaires. The questionnaires aim on user costs, electricity tariffs, expected mileages and predicted needs for electric ranges. So far, survey results indicate that EV technical benefits such as their pronounced acceleration are not commonly known. The paper / presentation will present the project itself and the results of measurements and questionnaires analysis until mid of 2016.

High-enthalpy resources exist worldwide only in a few regions. In other regions adapted power plant technologies like Organic-Rankine-Cycle or Kalina-Cycle are necessary because of the low geothermal temperature. In general, these plants have to be optimized overall. Furthermore, they have a high auxiliary power demand. Therefore, with German boundary conditions gross process efficiencies of nearly 14% can be reached today but the overall plant efficiency is lower 10%. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The education of engineers in chemical engineering at the University of Applied Sciences of Geneva is quite unique. In the last year of study, students work on pilot plants in the laboratory of chemical engineering and use their results in the planning and construction exercises. An example of tests with biogas purification and the project of an industrial installation in which the biogas will feed a motor illustrate this.

The climate crisis and its consequences represent the greatest challenge facing human health and health care system in the 21st century. It threatens to undermine the last decades of health gains. Rising temperatures, fires, floods and droughts can directly and indirectly cause human pathologies, that are physical and mental. Extreme weather events lead to loss of life, basic life resources and cause severe mental burden. More intense and frequent heat waves due to global warming impact human health and increase mortality, especially for those most vulnerable. The heat-related health risk depends on individual state of health as well as environmental and socioeconomic characteristics of residential areas. Increasing exposure to air pollutants, due to wildfires and anthropogenic emissions, raises respiratory and cardiovascular mortality. Climate warming changes ecosystems and enhances biological invasions that can better adapt to warm environments. Pathogen profiles are changing, transmission and spread of vector-borne diseases as Malaria or Dengue are increasing. Further, rising temperatures and air pollution increase the production and allergenicity of pollen, associated with higher prevalence of allergic diseases. Protective environmental factors, as biodiversity or diverse microbiome, should be given greater consideration in future research.Health sector has the central responsibility as the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter to transform in a climate-neutral and sustainable way, e. g. by efficient use of resources. Further education and training in this area should be intensified and included in curricula for medical staff. Furthermore, medical professionals must educate patients about the burden of climate change, climate resilience, and the benefits of CO2 reduction - for human but also for planetary health.

Dies ist das dritte Webinar in der „CLARITY für die Klimaresilienz“ (Clarity4CR) Webinarreihe und das erste in deutscher Sprache. Es präsentiert die CLARITY-Methodik zur Klimawandel-Risikobewertung, Impakt-Analyse, und Anpassungsplanung, stellt den "Advanced Urban Screening" Service vor und erläutert die Ergebnisse der CLARITY-Expertenstudie in Linz. This webinar is part of the CLARITY4ClimateResilience series. Other webinars from this series are available at https://www.gotostage.com/channel/climate-adaptation

Due to the geological conditions in Germany, combined geothermal heat and power plants show relatively low efficiencies and high power generation costs. Here, concepts to lower the energy and power costs and, therefore, to increase the efficiency are to be identified. This is done by using external, not used energy from fossil sources as well as from renewable sources. The technical possibilities and challenges as well as the potential impact on energy generation costs are then discussed for these concepts.

Thermochemical multistep processes are promising options to face future energy problems. Such reactions can be used to enhance the availability of solar energy in terms of energy transport, of energy demand/supply management and of potential energy related applications. Coupling concentrated sunlight to suitable sequences of thermochemical reaction enables the production of hydrogen, syngas and other fuels derived from those precursors by water- and CO2-splitting as well as the storage of solar energy by breaking and forming chemical bonds in suitable reversible reactions. These processes are sustainable and environmentally attractive since only water, CO2 and solar power are used as “raw materials”. All other materials involved are recycled within the process. The concentrated solar energy is converted into storable and transportable chemicals and fuels. One of the major barriers to technological success of many of those processes is the identification of suitable active materials like catalysts and redox materials exhibiting satisfactory durability, reactivity and efficiencies. Moreover, materials play an important role in the construction of key components of the respective high-temperature processes and for the implementation in commercial solar plants. Besides materials aspects also process engineering issues needs to be overcome. One of the most striking challenges is to couple an intermittent energy source to a chemical process. The most promising thermochemical processes are being described and discussed with respect to further development and future potential. The main challenges of those processes are being analyzed. Technical approaches and development progress in terms of solving them are addressed and assessed.