18 research outputs found
Distributional Challenges of Sustainability Policies - The Case of the German Energy Transition
Sustainability policies based on the economic rationale of providing
incentives to get prices right inevitably place a significant burden on
society and often raise distributional concerns. The social acceptability of
Germany’s energy transition towards more sustainable generation and usage of
energy is frequently the subject of such critical appraisals. The discourse
centres upon the burden imposed on electricity users as a result of the
promotion of renewable energy sources in the electricity sector in accordance
with the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). A regressive EEG surcharge
is suspected of driving up energy prices unreasonably and of being socially
unjust. It is also argued that high-income utility owners profit from the EEG
system at the expense of low-income electricity consumers (redistribution from
bottom to top). The aim of this paper is to examine the validity of these two
hypotheses and to show that both exhibit substantial theoretical and empirical
weaknesses, with climate and environmental policy being played off against
social policy in a questionable manner. At the same time, the article points
out remaining conflicts between energy policy and social policy and makes
corresponding policy recommendations for their resolution, thus contributing
to reconciling distributional concerns arising in the context of incentive-
oriented sustainability governance
Energiewende im Wunderland: Mythen zur Sozialverträglichkeit der Förderung erneuerbarer Energien durch das EEG
Spatial Mapping of Lipids at Cellular Resolution in Embryos of Cotton
Advances in mass spectrometry (MS) have made comprehensive lipidomics analysis of complex tissues relatively commonplace. These compositional analyses, although able to resolve hundreds of molecular species of lipids in single extracts, lose the original cellular context from which these lipids are derived. Recently, high-resolution MS of individual lipid droplets from seed tissues indicated organelle-to-organelle variation in lipid composition, suggesting that heterogeneity of lipid distributions at the cellular level may be prevalent. Here, we employed matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–MS imaging (MALDI-MSI) approaches to visualize lipid species directly in seed tissues of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). MS imaging of cryosections of mature cotton embryos revealed a distinct, heterogeneous distribution of molecular species of triacylglycerols and phosphatidylcholines, the major storage and membrane lipid classes in cotton embryos. Other lipids were imaged, including phosphatidylethanolamines, phosphatidic acids, sterols, and gossypol, indicating the broad range of metabolites and applications for this chemical visualization approach. We conclude that comprehensive lipidomics images generated by MALDI-MSI report accurate, relative amounts of lipid species in plant tissues and reveal previously unseen differences in spatial distributions providing for a new level of understanding in cellular biochemistry
Multiomics in the central Arctic Ocean for benchmarking biodiversity change
Multiomics approaches need to be applied in the central Arctic Ocean to benchmark biodiversity change and to identify novel species and their genes. As part of MOSAiC, EcoOmics will therefore be essential for conservation and sustainable bioprospecting in one of the least explored ecosystems on Earth
Die Zukunft der Energiewende in Deutschland
Ungeachtet der weithin geteilten Ziele einer Energiewende in Deutschland sind doch die konkreten Wege dorthin heftig
umstritten. Die Einzelmaßnahmen der Energiewendepolitik und ihr Zusammenspiel sowie die Einbettung in den europäischen
Kontext sind Gegenstand kontroverser wissenschaftlicher und öffentlicher Debatten. Insbesondere bei der Förderung
erneuerbarer Energien werden vor dem Hintergrund vielfältiger Kritik in Kürze die Weichen für die Zukunft neu gestellt.
Eine stimmige Weiterentwicklung der Energiewendepolitik und eine sachgerechte Begleitung durch eine kritische Ă–ffentlichkeit
setzen voraus, dass die langfristigen Auswirkungen politischer Entscheidungen in einem komplexen sozio-technischen
Energiesystem berücksichtigt werden. Auf Kurzfristeffekte oder ausschnitthafte Problemwahrnehmungen abzielende Politikansätze
oder Politikempfehlungen werden dem jedoch nicht gerecht
The future of the energy transition in Germany
Although the goals of the country’s energy transition (Energiewende) are widely accepted in Germany, the specific
route to get there is itself a matter of great controversy. The individual measures that are part of the energy transition
policy and the questions of how they interact and how they are embedded in the European context are objects of
controversial scientific and public debate. Most recently, the consequences for the price of electricity have, in particular,
been discussed intensely. Against this backdrop of wide-ranging criticism, the future course for promoting renewable
energy will soon be set. The German Renewable Energy Sources Act (the Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG), which is
the main instrument of energy transition policy with its feed-in tariffs, is supposed to be fundamentally revised in the
course of this year. A precondition for achieving a coherent further development of the energy transition policy and for
receiving the sound support of a critical public is that the long-term consequences of political decisions on a complex
sociotechnical energy system be taken into account. The requirements of such a system are not satisfied by policy
approaches or recommendations that target short-term effects or that are perceptions of problems extrapolated from
individual sectors. On the basis of its integrated research on the energy transition, researchers from the Helmholtz
Alliance Energy-Trans take a stand on current important controversial issues from the energy transformation and
specify fundamental challenges to shaping a sustainable energy transition policy
MAZE: Accessing the genomic and functional diversity of maize to improve quantitative traits
MAZE – Accessing the genomic and functional diversity of maize to improve quantitative traits
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Spatial Mapping of Lipids at Cellular Resolution in Embryos of Cotton
Article on the spatial mapping of lipids at cellular resolution in embryos of cotton