The new DFIU research project AsimutE, which starts in October, was presented in a report on Baden-TV channel on September 1st. The project aims to enable better energy use through intelligent self-consumption and energy storage. Daniel Sloot explains on it the background and goals of the project and the contribution that the DFIU makes to the international consortium of project partners. The video is available at the following link.

KIT DFIU

The Boundaries & Resilience workshop was held from June 26th to 28th, 2023, co-hosted by the Risk Management Research Group of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (IIP / DFIU) and the French University Université Paris-Dauphine. Supported by the Franco-German University, the workshop brought together experts and researchers from France, Italy, and Germany in Sophia Antipolis (France) at the Côte d'Azur to share their knowledge and experience in crisis and risk management and explore innovative ways of cross-border collaboration.
The workshop, targeted explicitly at junior scientists, offered the participants the opportunity to gain valuable insights into current projects in the field of cross-border cooperation. Discussions included recent developments and contributions from academia, results of recent publications, and practical contributions to increasing resilience. Interactive brainstorming and working sessions allowed participants to use the insights gained to explore further and advance the ideas and visions of cross-border collaboration and resilience.

FeLis - Universität Freiburg

On 18.04.2023, a project meeting took place in Freiburg within the framework of the CO2Inno project. The meeting served in particular the presentation of first results, the planning of further steps and the networking of the partners.

CO2Inno unites different research institutions on the German and French side of the Rhine and aims at the development and application possibilities of new low-emission technologies in the Upper Rhine Region. With the involvement of the users of such technologies, the application possibilities of different technologies are tested. Particular focus is placed on the development of a combined heat and power plant. This is to be operated with hydrogen from sustainable sources and enable efficient cogeneration. Together with electromobility and real data, a mobility concept will be designed to bring the region into the future in a sustainable way. The entire project will be accompanied and supported by analyses of the legal framework and acceptance research.

The project is supported by ERDF funds through Interreg Upper Rhine.

eucor

The kick-off event of the Eucor-funded "Interdisciplinary Student Research Lab in the URR" took place in Karlsruhe on March 3, 2023. Coordinated by the DFIU, students from the KIT and the universities of Basel and Strasbourg are investigating the extent to which energy communities can be a driver for the bidirectional charging of electric vehicles. The interdisciplinary and international team goes through a complete research process within one semester and is supervised by scientists from the three universities.

KIT IIP

The current Annual Report 2022 is online and can be viewed here.

Starting on February 1, 2023, Dr. Aurélie Fleury supports Dr. Daniel Sloot in managing the Franco-German Institute for Environmental Protection (DFIU). Ms. Fleury will contribute to further developing German-French cooperation at the DFIU.

In their recent paper published in Energy Policy, Florian Zimmermann and Dogan Keles show that nuclear power plants in France can hardly be renewed under liberalized market conditions, as other technologies like CCGT and RES outcompete them from a private investment perspective. If France counts on the renewal of the nuclear capacity, in order to guarantee energy security, this might only be achieved in a policy-driven scenario.

For more information, visit KIT-Open or directly via the publisher.

From July 18 to August 1, 2022, the first TRENT Summer School on "Lake Environment and Ecology" took place online. It was a DFIU cooperation with Suzhou University of Science and Technology (SUST), Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NJUST), Nanjing Tech University, Hohai University (HHU), Tongji University, and GRACE (Graduate School of the Center for Climate and Environment). Details about the program can be found here.

The German-French Institute for Environmental Research (DFIU) participated in the international conference, which took place in Manchester from June 20-23, 2022, and focused on the theme “Energy and Climate Transformations”. Dr. Daniel Sloot presented two research projects from the ongoing activities at DFIU and the chair of energy economics.

A scientific poster presented parts of a meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of financial incentives on residential energy conservation (see picture). The publication corresponding to the poster presentation can be accessed via this link. 

Moreover, research findings from the flexQgrid project were presented through an oral talk. The flexQgrid projects investigates the acceptance of demand response models by private and commercial actors. The presentation provided an overview of two recently published scientific articles on the participation of private households in so-called quota models. Both publications can be found online via the following links: publication 1, publication 2.

Overall, the conference offered an excellent opportunity for further networking between the DFIU and other scientific institutions in Germany and Europe.