The new, energy-optimised building for the Willibald Gluck Secondary School in Neumarkt (Upper Palatinate, Germany) utilises solar energy and near-surface geothermal energy. The first year in regular operation has provided good values: the heat pumps are contributing their planned share to the heat generation and the photovoltaic systems cover 35 per cent of the electricity consumed for the building operation and use. Storing the PV electricity in a vanadium redox flow battery has not, however, increased the proportion of self-consumed electricity during the first year of operation. The operation of the ventilation systems also provides potential for optimisation.  more...

A team of students from Berlin University of the Arts and Technische Universität Berlin designed a net energy plus building for the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 competition. The house is now being rebuilt on the Charlottenburg campus. It is intended for use as a seminar room and laboratory in the future. After minor modifications and with additional measurement technology, the students can learn about energy monitoring with a real building as an example.  more...

Can solar thermal plants achieve a consistently high yield for more than ten years? In order to answer these and other questions, scientists from Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences have surveyed the operators of 76 large-scale solar thermal plants and monitored ten of these systems for one year. All systems were funded at the turn of the millennium as part of the Solarthermie2000(plus) programme.  more...

Pupils have now gone back to school in all of Germany's federal states, and the curricula for the new school year have been set. Experts led by the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU) have investigated how renewable energies can be better integrated into lessons as a subject area. For this purpose they have developed teaching materials and analysed the benefits and potential of wind turbines and photovoltaic systems at educational facilities.  more...

The operation of ships causes considerable pollutant emissions. Future ship propulsion systems must therefore be more environmentally friendly. One possible way is to operate engines with natural gas rather than diesel. They have lower emissions when compared with current diesel engines without exhaust after-treatment. Researchers are developing and testing components and control instruments for this economical new generation of engines. They are aiming to reduce the engines' CO₂ emissions and halve them in future.  more...

Together with industrial partners, researchers at ZAE Bayern are developing a cost-effective energy storage system for industrial waste heat. It shall enable discontinuously generated waste heat to be utilised for processes for which this has previously not been done for economic reasons. The implementation phase has now begun. The scientists want to put a demonstration plant into operation in the spring of 2018. It will be used to provide the waste heat from a foundry melting furnace from the metal industry as process or thermal heat.  more...

Together with the industrial partner Linde AG, researchers from the German Aerospace Center have further developed a latent heat storage system based on nitrate salts. In combination with a cascade of sensible heat storage units, the goal is to maintain the electricity production of solar thermal power plants at night and at times with low solar irradiation. To this end, the scientists have developed a storage system that can also be used for conventional steam power plants and industrial processes.  more...

In the Upper Rhine Graben, natural geological thermal deposits can be tapped at comparatively low depths with bore wells. In a Franco-German research project in Alsace, scientists have been researching the process of utilising heat from crystalline rock for years, whereby they have optimised the concept and technology. At the site of the research facility, two power companies opened a new commercial power plant in 2016. The electricity is fed into the French grid. In Germany, around 95% of geothermal resources are also found in deep rock and 5% in natural thermal water layers.  more...

Refrigerators that consume electricity precisely when the wind and the sun provide excess electrical energy, and which during slack periods maintain their cooling temperature without additional energy input, would greatly relieve the grid. Scientists from ZAE Bayern are investigating the costs and benefits of such a load shift together with industrial partners. For this purpose they are increasing the thermal inertia of an efficient standard refrigerator by installing latent heat storage units. The test device can thereby bridge longer standstill times.  more...

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