A Feminist Perspective on Kant in the Context of Social Irrationality

Sem resum

How clean is clean? Incremental versus radical technological change in coal-fired power plants

In the discussion on innovations for sustainable development, radical innovations are frequently called for in order that the transformation of society to a system perceived as sustainable can succeed. The reason given for this is the greater environmental efficiency of these innovations. This hypothesis is, however, not supported by empirical evidence. Against the background of a globally increasing use of coal-burning power plants and the environmental impacts to be expected, the hypothesis that radical innovations are superior to incremental innovations is reviewed on the basis of fossil fuel power plants. This paper examines the diffusion of incremental and radical innovations in the field of power plants and the basic obstacles with which these innovations were confronted. To give an example, Pressurised Pulverised Coal Combustion (PPCC) as a radical innovation and supercritical coal-fired power plants as an incremental innovation are compared. An ex-post analysis of the German R&D portfolio in the past three decades in the field of power plants environmentally shows that technologies which were radical innovations had great difficulties in becoming accepted by possible investors. The future potential of radical innovations in the field of power plant technology is to be regarded as relatively low, especially due to comparatively high cost-pressure, the reluctance of utilities to take risks and the temporal dynamics of technological progress facilitating incremental innovations on the basis of conventional reference technology. The conclusion for future R&D work in the sector of large-scale power plants is that an innovation is more likely to succeed the more it follows established technological trajectories. In the context of energy market liberalisation, hardly any radical innovations are expected in this field of technology. The findings of this paper may also be helpful in evaluating risks or probabilities of success of technologies being developed. As an example technological trajectories currently favoured in CO2 capture are discussed. --Radical innovations,incremental innovations,carbon capture storage,coal power plants

Impact of different time series aggregation methods on optimal energy system design

Modelling renewable energy systems is a computationally-demanding task due to the high fluctuation of supply and demand time series. To reduce the scale of these, this paper discusses different methods for their aggregation into typical periods. Each aggregation method is applied to a different type of energy system model, making the methods fairly incomparable. To overcome this, the different aggregation methods are first extended so that they can be applied to all types of multidimensional time series and then compared by applying them to different energy system configurations and analyzing their impact on the cost optimal design. It was found that regardless of the method, time series aggregation allows for significantly reduced computational resources. Nevertheless, averaged values lead to underestimation of the real system cost in comparison to the use of representative periods from the original time series. The aggregation method itself, e.g. k means clustering, plays a minor role. More significant is the system considered: Energy systems utilizing centralized resources require fewer typical periods for a feasible system design in comparison to systems with a higher share of renewable feed-in. Furthermore, for energy systems based on seasonal storage, currently existing models integration of typical periods is not suitable

A Feminist Perspective on Kant in the Context of Social Irrationality

Sem resum

Inkrementelle versus radikale Innovationen am Beispiel der Kraftwerkstechnik

In der Diskussion um Innovationen für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung werden häufig radikale Innovationen gefordert, damit die Transformation der Gesellschaft hin zu einem als nachhaltig empfundenen System gelingen kann. Begründet wird dies mit einer höheren Umwelteffizienz dieser Innovationen. Empirische Evidenz für diese Hypothese ist allerdings kaum zu finden. Dieses Papier prüft vor dem Hintergrund eines weltweit zunehmenden Einsatzes von Kohlekraftwerken und der dadurch zu erwarteten Umweltbelastungen die Hypothese, dass radikale Innovationen im Vergleich zu inkrementellen Innovationen überlegen sind. Anhand von Beispielen fossil befeuerter Kraftwerke wird untersucht, inwieweit sich radikale Innovationen im Kraftwerksbereich bisher durchsetzen konnten bzw. welche Hemmnisse ihnen grundsätzlich entgegenstanden. Hierzu werden u.a. die Druckkohlenstaubfeuerung als radikale Innovation und überkritische Kohlekraftwerke als inkrementelle Innovation miteinander verglichen. Anhand einer Ex-Post Analyse lässt sich für den Kraftwerksbereich zeigen, dass sich umweltfreundliche Techniken, die radikale Neuerungen darstellen, nur sehr schwer durchsetzen konnten. Die Zukunftspotenziale für radikale Innovationen auf dem Gebiet der Kraftwerkstechnik sind insbesondere aufgrund des relativ hohen Kostendrucks, der geringen Risikobereitschaft von Energieversorgungsunternehmen und der großen zeitlichen Dynamik des inkrementellen Fortschritts bei konventionellen Referenztechnologien als relativ gering anzusehen. Für zukünftige F&E-Arbeiten auf dem großtechnischen Kraftwerkssektor lässt sich folgern, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Erfolgs einer Neuentwicklung umso größer ist, je näher sie sich an den etablierten Techniklinien orientiert. Auch im Zuge der Energiemarktliberalisierung sind für diesen Technikbereich kaum radikale Neuerungen zu erwarten

How clean is clean? : incremental versus radical technological change in coal-fired power plants

In the discussion on innovations for sustainable development, radical innovations are frequently called for in order that the transformation of society to a system perceived as sustainable can succeed. The reason given for this is the greater environmental efficiency of these innovations. This hypothesis is, however, not supported by empirical evidence. Against the background of a globally increasing use of coal-burning power plants and the environmental impacts to be expected, the hypothesis that radical innovations are superior to incremental innovations is reviewed on the basis of fossil fuel power plants. This paper examines the diffusion of incremental and radical innovations in the field of power plants and the basic obstacles with which these innovations were confronted. To give an example, Pressurised Pulverised Coal Combustion (PPCC) as a radical innovation and supercritical coal-fired power plants as an incremental innovation are compared. An ex-post analysis of the German R&D portfolio in the past three decades in the field of power plants environmentally shows that technologies which were radical innovations had great difficulties in becoming accepted by possible investors. The future potential of radical innovations in the field of power plant technology is to be regarded as relatively low, especially due to comparatively high cost-pressure, the reluctance of utilities to take risks and the temporal dynamics of technological progress facilitating incremental innovations on the basis of conventional reference technology. The conclusion for future R&D work in the sector of large-scale power plants is that an innovation is more likely to succeed the more it follows established technological trajectories. In the context of energy market liberalisation, hardly any radical innovations are expected in this field of technology. The findings of this paper may also be helpful in evaluating risks or probabilities of success of technologies being developed. As an example technological trajectories currently favoured in CO2 capture are discussed

Anaerobic biodegradation of an organic by-products leachate by interaction with different mine tailings

Abstract: Deinking by-products from paper recycling has been used as cover material on acid-producing tailings. Due to remaining cellulose, anaerobic degradation leads to the production of an organic-rich leachate, which may percolate through the tailings. This study aims at describing the influence of the tailings’ characteristics on the attenuation of organic matter in leachate and at discussing the degradation mechanisms. To this end, leachate was mixed with different types of tailings, includ ing three unoxidized tailings with varying acid generation potentials and one tailing in three states of oxidation. Regularly, selected biochemical parameters were analyzed to access the evolution of organic components. The results show that when deinking by-products leachate was placed in contact with tailings, phase and acid-base balance reactions took place in the beginning. Subsequently, oxidationreduction reactions dominated the chemistry of the system. The type, the constituents and the state of oxid ation of the mine tailings condition the mechanisms of biodegradation of organic components. Methanogenesis was predominant in the control sample (pure organic leachate) but was absent in all leachate-tailings mixes. No biodegradation was observed in the liquid phase for oxidized tailings and the organic concentration remained constant for unoxidized tailings, independently of the acid-generation potential. The biodegradation efficiency was optimal when the leachate was in contact with a mixture of oxidized and unoxidized tailings due to sulfate-reduction

Inkrementelle versus radikale Innovationen am Beispiel der Kraftwerkstechnik

In der Diskussion um Innovationen für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung werden häufig radikale Innovationen gefordert, damit die Transformation der Gesellschaft hin zu einem als nachhaltig empfundenen System gelingen kann. Begründet wird dies mit einer höheren Umwelteffizienz dieser Innovationen. Empirische Evidenz für diese Hypothese ist allerdings kaum zu finden. Dieses Papier prüft vor dem Hintergrund eines weltweit zunehmenden Einsatzes von Kohlekraftwerken und der dadurch zu erwarteten Umweltbelastungen die Hypothese, dass radikale Innovationen im Vergleich zu inkrementellen Innovationen überlegen sind. Anhand von Beispielen fossil befeuerter Kraftwerke wird untersucht, inwieweit sich radikale Innovationen im Kraftwerksbereich bisher durchsetzen konnten bzw. welche Hemmnisse ihnen grundsätzlich entgegenstanden. Hierzu werden u.a. die Druckkohlenstaubfeuerung als radikale Innovation und überkritische Kohlekraftwerke als inkrementelle Innovation miteinander verglichen. Anhand einer Ex-Post Analyse lässt sich für den Kraftwerksbereich zeigen, dass sich umweltfreundliche Techniken, die radikale Neuerungen darstellen, nur sehr schwer durchsetzen konnten. Die Zukunftspotenziale für radikale Innovationen auf dem Gebiet der Kraftwerkstechnik sind insbesondere aufgrund des relativ hohen Kostendrucks, der geringen Risikobereitschaft von Energieversorgungsunternehmen und der großen zeitlichen Dynamik des inkrementellen Fortschritts bei konventionellen Referenztechnologien als relativ gering anzusehen. Für zukünftige F&E-Arbeiten auf dem großtechnischen Kraftwerkssektor lässt sich folgern, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Erfolgs einer Neuentwicklung umso größer ist, je näher sie sich an den etablierten Techniklinien orientiert. Auch im Zuge der Energiemarktliberalisierung sind für diesen Technikbereich kaum radikale Neuerungen zu erwarten. --inkrementelle Innovationen,radikale Innovationen,evolutorische Ökonomie,Kraftswerkstechnik