Boysen Graduate College Sustainable Energy Systems
Table of contents
The BOYSEN-TUD graduate programme covers various projects on “Sustainable Energy Systems – Interdependence between Technical Designs and Social Acceptance“, including topics in engineering as well as social and human sciences. Young scholars will cooperate under the joint supervision of advisors from different academic cultures so that technological advancements and their societal acceptance can be developed simultaneously.
An intense cooperation with the engineering projects of the graduate programme is required: they provide the relevant data for the data inventory and require the results for interpretation. In the context of the intended discussion on technology acceptance, this close interdisciplinary cooperation is a crucial prerequisite for a well-informed dialogue. The analysis of the barriers will occur in close cooperation with the communication science dissertations of the graduate programme.
The following paragraphs contain a short overview of the projects which will be supervised by our chair.
P7: Assessment of the sustainability of future energy system options
The energy system options that are being developed in the engineering projects of the graduate programme will only be viable if they fulfill the requirements of sustainability. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the energy system options that are being developed with respect to their sustainability: the main focus is on assessing the sustainability in terms of long-term economic and ecological sustainability. It will deal with the uncertainty of long-term economic consequences, and trade-offs between the economic and ecologic sustainability will be identified. The starting point for the assessment of the ecological sustainability of the energy system options will be the standardised life cycle assessment. As with the economic assessment, the challenges of uncertainty will be dealt with in respect to ecological sustainability. The aim here is to identify and if necessary respond to hot spots already during the development process by accompanying the engineering projects of the graduate programme. In addition, possible barriers to the successful implementation of the analysed and chosen energy system options are considered. Taking into account the economic added value, the ecological compatibility, as well as the barriers to implementation allows a long-term success of the considered energy system options.
P10: Knowledge, attitude and behavioural disposition on renewable energy in the population and from relevant actors (main supervisors: Donsbach/ Günther/ Möst/ Patzelt/ Schegner)
This dissertation descriptively analyses the knowledge, attitude, and behavioural disposition in the population on energy technologies, in general, and renewable energies, in particular, as well as the use of energy technologies. From the explicative aspect, the causal relations between these three constructs as well as the influence of third variables such as education, income, or value patterns on the three variables in focus are analysed. The empirical core of this project are representative surveys in the population and semi-structured interviews with actors from relevant societal fields such as from politics, science, and the energy sector. As at least five of the involved dissertation projects require such data, this project is a central “service module” for the graduate collegue. The joint supervision through five of the participating professors shall better ensure the availability of the required data, subject to available resources.
Here you find the complete application. .
Supervisor
Prof. Dr. Edeltraud Günther (subproject)
Cooperation
Faculty Power generation / high voltage technology
Faculty Environmental Management and Accounting
Faculty Communication Science
Term
01/2012 to 12/2016
Finance
Friedrich-und-Elisabeth-Boysen-Stiftung
Publications
- Muench, S. 2014, "Greenhouse gas mitigation potential of electricity from biomass", Journal of Cleaner Production, In press. link
- Muench, S.; Thuss, S. & Guenther, E. 2014, "What hampers energy system transformations? The case of smart grids", Energy Policy, vol. 73, pp. 80-92. link
- Muench, S. & Guenther, E. 2013, "Bioenergieökobilanzen", Tagungsband 9. Biogastagung Dresden, Band 92, pp. 61-70.
- Muench, S. & Guenther, E. 2013, "A systematic review of bioenergy life cycle assessments", Applied Energy, vol. 112, pp. 257-273. link
Presentations
- Ökobilanzierung von Biomethan. Präsentation at the Ökobilanzwerkstatt on 09/09/2014 in Dresden.
- What hampers energy system transformations? The case of smart grids. Presentation at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management on 05/08/2014 in Philadelphia.
- Technikfolgeabschätzung im Bereich Bioenergie. Presentation at the 9th Biogastagung on 11/11/2013 in Dresden.
- Ecological assessment. Presentation at the International Summer School Sustainable Energy Systems - Interdependence between Technical Design and Social Acceptance on 27/09/2013 in Dresden.
- Bioenergy: A review of environmental impacts. Poster Spotlight Presentation at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe) on 16/05/2013 in Glasgow.