Research focus of the first Research Training Group

“Sustainable energy systems - interdependence of technical design and social acceptance”

The development towards a sustainable and ecological energy supply is more relevant than ever. In the near future, the maximum production of crude oil will be reached, which will result in the need to substitute the missing oil with other sources of energy.

Germany is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of both technological development and political will to implement renewable energies. The political reactions to the accident in the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima have once again exacerbated the energy situation and are driving the development of sustainable energy systems forward. The energy revolution targets of the German federal government involve the restructuring of the entire German energy supply. For example, the replacement of nuclear energy generation by discontinuous regenerative energies requires new solutions for energy conversion, storage, and transmission. On the one hand, the further development of existing regenerative energy conversion technologies is required to implement the energy strategy prescribed by the German federal government. On the other hand, innovative storage systems must be further researched and the infrastructure necessary for the nationwide distribution of electrical energy must be created.

When planning development scenarios for the future energy supply, there should be close cooperation between the technical sciences and the social sciences right from the start. Such cooperation can optimize the process and contribute to the acceptance of sensible technical solutions in the field of energy. The technical sciences can develop technically manageable, ecologically sound, and economically viable solutions for energy conversion, storage, and transmission. However, which risks are accepted by society and what, in the long term, is considered to be ecologically justifiable and economically viable can not usually be answered by them. For this reason, the Boysen-TU Dresden-Research Training Group also integrates perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences in order to create a holistic view of sustainable energy systems and their acceptance.

You can find the alumni from the first cohort of the Boysen-TUD-RTG here.