The cities of Stuttgart and Überlingen are collaborating together in the “Urban District 2050 – Solving Challenges Together” research project. The project goal is to remodel and develop two districts to create affordable, climate-neutral housing. The two municipalities are tackling the tasks in different ways. Their systematic approaches will enable, however, the experience gained by the respective demonstration districts to be also utilised by the other city.  more...

Boilers powered by biogenic fuels emit more particulate matter than oil and gas boilers. In order to safely undercut the stricter limit values in all operating states, which have been in place since the beginning of 2015, researchers and plant manufacturers are working together to achieve the emission-reduced operation of biomass heating systems by means of secondary emission reduction measures.  more...

The generation of hydrogen by means of water electrolysis makes it possible to store renewably generated electricity. In a new study, experts assume that by 2050 Germany will require an installed plant capacity in the three-digit gigawatt range in order to achieve the German government's climate protection goals.  more...

Since its refurbishment, the vocational college in Detmold generates more primary energy than it consumes. For this purpose, the facades and the top storeys have been insulated with cellulose, passive house windows have been installed and the roof areas have been covered with PV panels. The existing heating system continues to be used with reduced temperatures. Since 2016, there has been a comprehensive monitoring of its operation.  more...

The world’s largest high-temperature latent heat storage system reached its future deployment site, the Wellesweiler cogeneration plant of STEAG New Energies GmbH in the Saarland, upon a flatbed truck mid-September. The system is intended to ensure permanent steam supply to an adjacent plant for the production of plastic sheeting. To date, operation of an additional heating boiler has been required under continual minimal load. This currently takes over short-term steam supply in the event of a malfunction of the power plant turbine until a steam boiler is initiated.  more...

The German cabinet has passed the new, 7th “Innovations for Energy Transition” Energy Research Programme. The programme replaces its predecessor from 2011. Content-wise, the programme builds on the successes of recent years, sets new courses and defines focal points for research funding and innovation policy in the energy sector. For the years 2018-2022, the German Government is budgeting 6.4 billion euros for energy research.  more...

A new, almost climate-neutral urban district is being built on the site of a former freight yard in Esslingen. Over a period of five years, scientists in the planned Neue Weststadt district are experimenting with an innovative energy supply concept with which electricity surpluses from intermittent renewable energies will be converted into hydrogen, stored and, if necessary, returned to the grid. The district will also serve as a real-world laboratory for the system-supportive coupling of the heating, cooling, electricity and mobility sectors.  more...

Last week, TU Dresden officially launched the long-term National 5G Energy Hub research project. This is aimed at making the future 5G mobile standard usable for applications in energy technology. Project partners are TU Dresden in cooperation with RWTH Aachen, Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson. In addition, the associated partners Techem, VDZ, E.ON and the city of Dresden are also involved.  more...

Scientists are testing a large overground hot water storage tank with lower production costs than comparable constructions thanks to its construction with prefabricated steel segments. The OBSERW research project is building on the experience gained from a large cool water storage tank that has been tried and tested in the district cooling network of the city of Chemnitz for more than ten years. For the first time, the construction principle, which is flexible in shape and size, could be transferred to hot water storage tanks that have to withstand high temperatures and temperature changes.  more...

Large-scale solar thermal systems are being increasingly used in heating networks. The Steinbeis Research Institute Solites in collaboration with international partner organisations has created a newly designed information service on solar-supported heating networks at www.solare-waermenetze.de. At the heart of the web platform is a database that provides comprehensive technical and economic expert knowledge.  more...