Journal Entry #17 - Interview with Prof. Dr. rer.pol. Georg Erdmann

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed a specialist about energy:

I interviewed him about general things that were happening in the world right now, German Energiewende or the UN Coference in Paris. For me it was very interesting to talk to an expert, I learned a lot about what is going on in the world at this point in time. In my opinion, it is very important when researching, to always know what is going on in the world right now and have a sense of how it relates to your topic of interest, in my case the improvement of energy efficiency.

Below is the interview:

Interview with Prof. Dr. Erdmann

Member of the independent expert commission – energy of the future on behalf of the Federal German government

1.     What do you think about the German “Energiewende“?

·      A very ambitious project

·      Which was decided in the context of facing out nuclear power

·      Does not only address the transformation of electricity sector, but also development of renewables and energy efficiency in the field of heating, cooling and transportation

·      The time horizon of the energy is 2015

2.     Are we progressing with the German Energiewende?

·      Ambigous

·      In the field of renewable electricity generation Germany is ahead of schedule, whereas in the field of energy efficiency the progress is insufficient

·      However, it is not so easy to be successful in the field of energy efficiency, because rather many consumers are involved.

3.     Do you agree with the concept?

·      I would say it has a lot of possible benefits, the most important one being innovation

·      Germany represents a market for new technologies and energy solutions, which go far beyond the renewable innovation technologies

·      An example is smart meters and smart grids, which aim to integrate renewable energy sources into electricity markets

·      The Disadvantage of the system is that politicians have the intention to steadily increase interventions into energy markets, this creates an uncertainty on the side of the market participants which itself is a reason for slow progress

4.     Which energy sources in general to do you agree with most? What do you think about renewable energy sources in general?

·      In principle it should be without environmental emissions, it particular green house gas emissions, thus wind energy and solar energy are attractive

·      However, in evening periods without wind, a system of wind and solar energy alone cannot provide a sufficient supply.

·      Therefore, it is the task to accomplish the wind and solar system with technologies that could solve this issue.

·      To mention some storage devices, like demand response systems, backup generators based on natural gas

5.     What do you think about measuring for the project?

·      I think you project is an important element for the energiewende, because only if the structure of the energy consumption is known, generators and the energy market can solve the supply issues including these technologies.

·      The follow up issue is, that with the digitalization of the industry and the society, more and more data will be avaliable

·      The next step is then how to take optimal use of this information.

6.     What do you think about the declining oil and coal import prices around the world?

·      The decline of oil prices is a challenge to the energy transformation

·      The declining oil and coal import prices represent a challenge for the Energiewende, because it reduces the competitiveness of new technologies

·      The price drop is partly the result of geopolitical development, but I would assume that if the energiewende become a model for other countries, we should expect other countries to also use less oil and coal so that the prices will remain low

·      When the energy transformation was developed, this price scenario was not expected, perhaps because the government has not thought deeply enough about this problem.

7.     The climate conference in Paris is just recently over, what do think about their goals? Are they achievable?

·      Of course, the goal is achievable, however the question is whether there is enough happening.

·      It is quite challenging to move from international negotiations and statements because there is resistance of many actors has to be expected and is quite ambitious to overcome.