Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research WKI in Braunschweig have developed a process which allows foam to be produced from wood particles. It is as light as balsa wood, a material commonly used for model aircraft, and has excellent thermal insulation properties due to its pore structure. The material is suitable as insulation, packing material and for structural applications. The form-stable wood foam can currently be produced at a laboratory scale.
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At the EnEff:Stadt Conference, which was held in January 2014 in Berlin, the City of Ludwigsburg presented its longstanding experience and activities, which today are systematically aimed at achieving energy efficiency and climate protection. Particularly with the founding of the Sustainable Urban Development Department, the municipality has created a decisive organisational basis for implementing its urban development concept. The department steers and processes the diverse range of projects, and integrates them with all administrative activities. Since 2005, continual public participation has ensured its acceptance.
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With the FreeGreenius simulation programme, engineers can calculate which yields can be achieved by a renewable power plant project at a specific location. In addition, the tool also enables them to plan how the installation must be designed and sized in order to feed in the desired amount of electricity into the grid. Designers of solar power plants and wind turbines can therefore gain an initial insight into whether a power plant is viable and under what conditions. The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) offers the software free of charge for downloading.
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The two Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency export initiatives help small- and medium-sized enterprises to open foreign markets. In order to make contact with potential cooperation partners, they are offering diverse business trips to Europe and the rest of the world this year. The service includes an analysis of the specific interests of the companies taking part. Based on this, the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce Abroad (AHKs) are organising individual meetings for the participants with representatives from business, science and administration.
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The interdisciplinary NEOTHERM junior research group at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg is developing new materials for storing thermal energy. Using new composite materials, the scientists at the Faculty of Process and Systems Engineering (FVST) want to recover and store unused solar thermal energy and waste heat from industry. This energy can be used, for example, for heating domestic hot water or for space heating.
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Over the last few years, heat pumps have become more efficient. In a recent interview, Marek Miara, head of the heat pump unit at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, talked about research results and future development potential. His team has completed three large-scale monitoring projects in old and new buildings.
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In Germany’s largest fuel cell heating unit field test, 350 systems by various manufacturers have been tested in homes to date. This is in preparation for market launch and mass production. By mid-2016, up to 500 units are to be tested in the “Callux” field test.
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Spray scrubbers have been successfully used in power plants for years for desulphurising flue gas. Now it is intended that they should scrub another material – namely climate-harming carbon dioxide (CO
2). Until now a hurdle preventing large-scale CO
2 capturing has been the high investment costs for the plant technology and the considerable amount of energy required for the operation. The University of Stuttgart is therefore working with partners to improve this process.
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Developers from science and industry are jointly investigating the technical, economic and ecological aspects concerned with superconductor technology in electricity grids. As part of the AmpaCity project in Essen, a two-year test operation is scheduled to be launched this spring with a one-kilometre superconductor test route. This test is designed to show that superconductor technology could provide a future alternative to conventional high voltage technology in cities.
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Pumped storage power plants have been in use for over a hundred years to balance fluctuating electricity loads and to cover peak loads. The energy transition creates additional storage demand with its fluctuating feed-in of wind and solar power into the grid. New sites, however, are scarce. Whether the large differences in the tunnel heights of abandoned mines are usable or not is currently being investigated by an interdisciplinary team of researchers on the basis of two viable locations.
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