Energy, climate and infrastructure

With the overarching goals of safe, environmentally compatible and affordable generation, distribution and use of energy, our work focuses on the following topics: the expansion of renewable energy sources, increasing energy efficiency, increased rational energy use and energy conservation.

Two perspectives are central: a social-ecological and a technical-scientific one. Both perspectives are integrated in our research in an application-oriented manner and organised in an inter- and transdisciplinary way. With our research, we make a discursive contribution to shaping the energy transition.

The concrete research work deals with the prerequisites, conditions and consequences of the transformation of the energy system. The focus is primarily on infrastructural-technical, socio-ecological, institutional and societal innovations in the transition to sustainable and future-proof technologies, structures and development paths.

The performance centre of the research projects includes feasibility studies and sustainability assessments of energy technologies and services, acceptance studies of strategies and instruments among various actors, evaluations of programmes, modelling of scenarios and forecasts, and technology assessment of previous and future energy strategies.

Projects

A selection of projects from the past five years is presented below. A complete overview is available via the search.

empowerplant preview

2022 - 2025

EmPowerPlan - Participation and justice on the ground

2020 - 2023

Preparation of the content of public participation in the context of updating the National Clean Air Programme

2019 - 2023

5G-VICTORI - Vertical demos over Common large scale field Trials for Rail, energy and media Industries
energysharing preview

2023 - 2024

Scientific support of a concept, pilot and guideline in the context of energy sharing

2017 - 2022

Innovative Solutions in Future Stations, Energy Metering and Power Supply (In2Stempo)

2017 - 2019

NERC Directive: Further development of forecasts for air pollutants for national clean air programmes

2021

Use of digital technologies in energy communities

2014 - 2016

Strong female craftswomen Energy + Efficiency

2020

Germany on the way to climate neutrality: What opportunities and risks does digitalisation present?

2017 - 2018

HERBIE - Comparative Evaluation of Vegetation Control and Management Methods for European Railways

2016 - 2020

Evaluation of the National Efficiency Label for old heating systems

2020 - 2022

More quality of life, less environmental consumption - user-oriented development of sufficiency policy project outlines in the environment ministry

2017 - 2019

Evaluation of the project "Market Monitoring Support" in the framework of the National Action Plan on Energy Efficiency (NAPE)

2016 - 2017

SUSTAIN - Best Practices, Benchmarking and Recommendations for Sustainable Stations

2013 - 2016

VerNetzen: Social-ecological, technical and economic modelling of development paths of the energy transition

2019 - 2020

TRISTRAM - TRansItion STRategy on vegetAtion Management

2018 - 2019

Research map on coupled, climate-resilient, sustainable infrastructures in Europe

2017

Prospects for citizen participation in the energy transition, taking distribution issues into account - BuergEn

2018 - 2021

City of the future: Climate-resilient urban-rural cooperation. Innovations of regional biomass production, circular economy and governance

2017

Ukrainian Railways: Energy efficiency, energy policy and organisation

2018 - 2019

Recycling in the age of digitalisation: Specific recycling targets for metals and plastics from small electrical appliances in the ElektroG: Regulatory approaches

2016 - 2019

KliReX - Identifying and evaluating the greenhouse gas reduction potential of resource efficiency policies

2017

Comparative economic and ecological evaluation of innovative, stationary energy storage technologies in industrial production
izt project

2013 - 2014

Implications of the amended reporting obligations for EU ETS and greenhouse gas inventories due to the Effort Sharing Decision
izt project

2010 - 2013

"Automated green laundries": Investigation, adaptation and evaluation of a rational technology for the holistic recycling of a novel RFID transponder used in flat linen
izt project

2010 - 2012

Key elements of electromobility in the electricity industry: storage, grids, integration
izt project

2008 - 2010

Development of a module with measures to increase the acceptance of organic waste collection by the municipal waste collection service
izt project

2007 - 2009

CARRIVA - Dynamic carpooling for commuters at Frankfurt Airport via "carpooling clubs"
izt project

2009 - 2012

Scientific advice to the European Parliament on energy issues
izt project

2006 - 2010

Advanced Thin Film Technologies for Cost Effective Photovoltaics