Prof. Dr. Stefan Bringezu
Our supply must not only be geared towards renewable energy, but also towards renewable materials.
What exactly are you researching?
It is about the options for making the physical basis of our economy sustainable. To this end, climate protection and resource efficiency must and can be combined. Our supply must not only be regenerative in terms of energy, but also in terms of materials, and our consumption of resources must not exceed globally safe levels.
[Reading tip: Prof. Dr. Stefan Bringezu, The World Budget: Safe and fair resource use for global survival and well-being]
What specific questions or problems are you currently trying to solve?
We are working on three key areas:
(1) The sustainable design of the bio-based economy. The aim here is to reduce the overuse of natural systems and describe sustainable uses of food, renewable raw materials, wood, etc. Monitoring the German bioeconomy is a concrete result(https://www.monitoring-biooekonomie.de/de/.
(2) The evaluation of technologies for the use of CO2 as a raw material. The recycling of carbon, combined with the storage of atmospheric CO2, is an important future technology. Depending on the product and production process, different amounts of renewable energy are required, which has a decisive impact on the economic and ecological balance(ttps://www.uni-kassel.de/forschung/cesr/forschungsprojekte/co2win-connect).
(3) The analysis of resource-efficient and climate-friendly infrastructures. This concerns construction technologies and energy supply and storage systems. For example, carbon concrete can contribute to saving mineral resources(https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15144855) and when designing the energy supply, it is important to consider water consumption along the upstream chains, even with renewable energies(HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1038/S43247-022-00521-7).
Which methods do you mainly use in your research?
It involves system analyses at different scale levels, from the process chains for production and use to the recycling of waste and the entire economy. In particular, the so-called climate and resource footprints are examined. They quantify the system-wide greenhouse gas emissions and the use of primary raw materials, water and land associated with production and consumption. Their magnitude serves as a reliable benchmark for ecological sustainability assessment.