We have packed the week full of inspiring talks, exciting workshops, interactive sessions with current students, university representatives and student sustainability initiatives, and more. Click on a session for more details.
A recent online article is aptly titled: “Sustainability – confusing term for a clever concept“. This nicely summaries both the beauty and challenge in dealing with this important concept. The idea of sustainability first emerged with regards to forestry, where it means never harvesting more than what the forest yields in new growth. The word “Nachhaltigkeit” (the German term for sustainability) was first used with this meaning in 1713. Since then the concept of sustainability has come a long way. In general terms, sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, this is not restricted to the natural environment but also extends to social and economic resources. Thus, sustainability goes beyond environmentalism and also encompasses social equity and economic development. Sustainability can also be understood as a movement which has its roots in social justice, conservationism or internationalism. By the end of the 20th century, many of these ideas were united under the roof of “sustainable development” and found their most prominent expression in the Sustainable Development Goals (SGD) as the current global agenda for reducing poverty and raising the quality of life. Sustainability as a political and strategic concept has its origin in the Brundtland Report “Our Common Future” of 1987. The report was concerned with the tension between the aspirations of mankind towards a better life on the one hand and the limitations imposed by nature on the other hand.
The presentation traces the history of the concept of sustainability and critically discusses its many dimensions.
Jörn Dosch is Professor/Chair of International Politics and Development Cooperation and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Rostock, Germany. He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, one of the leasing universities in Asia. Previous positions include Professor of International Relations at the Australian Monash University (Malaysia Campus), Head of the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, and Fulbright scholar at Stanford University. He received his PhD from the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. His research and teaching focuses on politics, international relations and questions of development in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He has spent extended periods of time in Asia since the early 1990s. Prof. Dosch also regularly works as a consultant for the European Union’s development program and has evaluated several donor-funded projects in Asia and Latin America.
Here potentials and challenges for sustainability in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are discussed from different perspectives, with panel guests from business, science and society.
Tiemo Timmermann studied Biology at the Free University of Berlin. 1998 PhD (ecosystem dynamics of wetlands), 1999-2000 fellow at Utrecht University, Netherlands, since 2000 researcher, lecturer, project and study programme coordinator at the Institute for Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Dynamics at Greifswald University. Since 2015 he holds the position of the Representative for Sustainability at Greifswald University. His tasks include, among others, sustainability reporting, strategy development for carbon neutrality, education for sustainable development and networking.
Franziska Tanneberger is a senior researcher at the Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology at Greifswald University and co-director of the Greifswald Mire Centre, Germany. She has studied landscape ecology at Greifswald (DE) and Reading (UK) universities. Her research includes fen mire ecology and biodiversity, paludiculture, and peatland restoration, particularly within carbon schemes and with a focus on Germany, Russia, Belarus, and Poland. The Greifswald Mire Centre is a science-policy-practice-interface of University of Greifswald, Michael Succow Foundation and DUENE e.V. More than 50 peatland experts of various disciplines work at the GMC. The GMC coordinates several peatland databases, including the Global Peatland Database (GPD), the Database of Potential Paludiculture Plants (DPPP), and the Peatland and Nature Conservation International Library (PeNCIL). The GMC is founding member of the Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI).
Thekla Wilkening founded her first company „Kleiderei“, a Fashion-Rental-Service when she was 25 years old. „Kleiderei“ is Germanys first Access-over-Ownership and an revolutionary example for circular economy in textiles. Today she is consulting different business models in terms of sustainability and is an active advocate for more social justice in the fashion industry. Wilkening has just published her first book “Das Bio-Pizza Dilemma”, which encourages readers to find their own approach to a sustainable (fashion)lifestyle.
How do we form resilient networks that bring out fun-oriented and creative sustainable behaviour, create synergy effects and enrich consumers, instead of bringing out a feeling of sanity-driven individual resignation?
I studied cultural management and am co-founder of „Regionalwert“ in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is a citizen shares coorporation. We connect producers, processors, local communities and educational institutions with each other and support people who create products and services which bring social and infrastructural benefits into this region.
Marie Heidenreich is running for the state parliament MV for the Green Party. She works as a science journalist and writes about marine and climate research. As an activist at Radentscheid Rostock, she advocates better cycling infrastructure.
Hannes Trettin is an industrial engineer (mechanical engineering) and founder (SNAZZ, Project Bay) as well as a lecturer at HTW Berlin for business administration/commerce and entrepreneurship. He has worked internationally as a manager for the e-mobility sector at Robert Bosch GmbH and previously for Deloitte GmbH, Continental AG and AUDI AG. In the course of these activities, he has built up an extensive network in the mechanical engineering scene. With the foundation of SNAZZ (sustainable fashion platform), he has expanded this with networks in the accelerator, co-working and start-up scene.
The production of renewable energy fluctuates in terms of sun and wind and must be supplemented by storage in the system. On an individual basis, i.e., for centralized electricity production and predominantly self-consumption, the use of batteries is considered here. Possible future development scenarios were simulated based on current price relationships (status quo). In the status quo, a selling price for PV electricity of 13 Euro cents (ct)ct/kWh was assumed with a production cost of 11 ct/kWh. The selling price of wind power is 5 ct/kWh with a production cost of 3 ct/kWh. The cost of storing electricity in a battery increases the price by 33 ct/kWh. A price of 20 ct/kWh is assumed for electricity purchases by companies. In the status quo, the use of batteries is not economical given the assumed price relationships. Changing the framework conditions, such as those of the legislature in Germany with the nuclear power phase-out and in the EU with the coal exit and decarbonization, will lead to increased availability of (fluctuating) renewable electricity, especially during the day. The purchase of electricity at other times, when the supply is scarce, can lead to increased electricity prices, especially at night. Together with falling costs for storage, the use of batteries for centralized power generators could be very interesting in the future. The method used in this study is nonlinear optimization of the target function costs of electricity supply in the developed simulation model. The results can also be transferred to other countries, as the assumed trends apply worldwide.
Clemens Fuchs, born 16. August 1959 in Ellwangen/Jagst (Germany) and grown up on a farm, studied Agricultural Sciences at the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim and graduated with Diploma (1983) and PhD (1988). He started as a teacher at the Academy for Agriculture in Nürtingen (1987-1989), was a visiting scholar at Michigan State University (1989-1990) and then became a research assistant at the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim (1990-1995). In 1995 to 1996 he was leader of the project “Restructuring of Large Agricultural Farms in the Region of Vladimir, Russia” and since 1996 professor for Farm Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Neubrandenburg. Other activities: Delegated National Expert at the European Commission (2001-2002) and Agricultural Appraiser since 2008. He supports student exchange and research cooperation with universities in Argentina, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation and Ukraine. He is engaged in the development of a binational master program with double degree in sustainable agricultural production management with Argentina fostered by DAAD. Dr. Fuchs has long experience in projects concerning Farm Management and, in the field of renewable energy and, especially teaching Entrepreneurship. A selection of research topics of last years is (short title), “Resource efficiency in beef production in Germany, Brazil and Argentina” (aided by Rehwinkel foundation), “Regional effects of smart microgrids in bioenergies” (aided by German Federal Ministry of Research/BMBF) and Animal welfare and eco-nomic efficiency in the future-oriented dairy farming – evaluation of various actions and their economic impact (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research). Most recently he was a member of the EU project TEEN FARM – TEaching ENtrepreneurship for new FARMers (Project n.2018-1-IT01-KA202-006804).
Please join us for a pub quizz and get to know Germany, MV and the different universitiy cities.
The presentation is about the use of a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) as an active power filter for advantageously stabilize the volatile power output of a wind turbine. For this purpose, a HESS (25 kW / 25 kWh) consisting of lithium-ion batteries (200 x 3.2 V / 40 Ah) and double-layer capacitors (12 x 48 V / 156 F modules) was set up in the laboratory at Stralsund University. A fluctuating power conversion is simulated by a 20 kW engine test bench with an asynchronous generator. The HESS uses the advantageous properties of both energy storage technologies. These enable the power flow at the grid connection point to be stabilized, from highly dynamic load peaks to longer-term power changes in the hourly range. A major advantage of this storage combination is the reduced cycle load of the lithium ion batteries due to the corresponding use of the double-layer capacitors. A design of the HESS components optimized for the respective work cycle, together with optimized operation, ensures an increased service life of the LIB.
Ramy Soliman was born in 1990. He obtained his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rostock in 2017. Since then he has been working as a scientific assistant and PhD student at the Stralsund University of Applied Sciences in the excellence research program „Netz-Stabil“. His research areas include hybrid energy storage systems in the context of the energy transition, as well as power electronics, electrical drives and their control.
