Yesterday, the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) awarded the environment prize for the 20th time. German President Joachim Gauck presented the prize in the Gewandhaus hall in Leipzig to co-founder of SMA Solar Technology AG, Günther Cramer, and to the Freiburg researchers Dr. Andreas Bett from the Fraunhofer ISE and Hansjörg Lerchenmüller from Soitec Solar GmbH. In these times of crisis, the foundation aims to send a message through the award winners from the photovoltaic sector.  more...

Four federal ministries have jointly determined how they want to promote research in the next few years that contributes to "an environmentally sound, reliable and affordable energy supply". The 6th Energy Research Programme, which was adopted in 2011 in Berlin, replaces its predecessor from 2005. The plan intends to increase the German government´s annual funding budget to one billion euros by 2014.  more...

There are already more than 100 regions and many rural communities that are promoting sustainable development based on renewable energies. After developing individual concepts and strategies, the lengthy and often very complex implementation begins. A research project organised by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment has been supporting these regions in conceptual and technical terms since 2007. This project is being conducted by the deENet competence network and the University of Kassel, and is being advised by the German Federal Environment Agency. In a second project phase, it is planned to create a national network by 2013.  more...

Buildings of the future are secret power plants: they will generate more energy than they require. The surplus can be used for the residents´ electromobility or is fed into the grid. This idea is now to be implemented as an energy-plus building with electromobility. The fully recyclable house designed by scientists from Dresden, Germany offers 142 m² of floor space and produces more energy than is required for a 4-person household and to run two electric cars and an electric scooter (with an annual mileage of 29,000 km). The team of researchers from Dresden University of Technology won second prize at the planning competition of the Zukunft Bau (Future of Construction) research initiative with this pilot project in February 2011.  more...

In 2009, renewable energies met 11.6% of the gross final energy consumption of the European Union, whereby they generated 18.2% of the electrical energy supplies. Their economic importance is also growing: more than 900,000 workers in the various sectors generate a turnover of 120 billion euros. These are the results of the tenth report published by the EurObserv'ER consortium on "The State of Renewable Energies in Europe". The annually published report describes not just the development of the various technologies, broken down according to the respective EU countries, but also explains their socio-economic importance. The documentation, which is published in English and French, can now be downloaded free of charge.  more...

Small vans for deliveries in cities are always parked at night at the same place at defined times. If they have an electrical drive, they can then store electricity from renewable energy sources and contribute to buffering of the electricity grid. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment plans to support the development of just such an electric vehicle by an Osnabrück-based automobile manufacturer to the tune of 9.5 million euros.  more...

The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology has published a strategy paper entitled "Eckpunkte und Leitlinien zur Weiterentwicklung der Energieforschungspolitik der Bundesregierung (Cornerstones and guidelines for the continued development of the German federal government's energy research policy)". The detailed analyses and suggestions were developed as a result of the cooperation between a number of institutes in the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres as part of a broadly based consultation process.  more...