How we deal with energy will decide our future
Late last year, vibrator trucks were driving around Münster in order to identify possible geothermal energy sites; the proposed so-called Household Heating Act is still being debated in Germany; Russia’s war against Ukraine is having an effect on electricity supplies in Europe. In short: the issue of energy, with all the aspects it includes, is present everywhere. And there is a good reason for this: the energy sector is responsible for around three-quarters of all greenhouse gases detrimental to the climate, reports the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). On the one hand, CO2 emissions need to be drastically reduced if climate change is to be tackled; and on the other hand, the BMZ says that the global demand for primary energy could rise by one-third by 2040. “How can we achieve a climate-neutral, reliable and resource-conserving energy transition? What technologies are we already using today to this end, and what can we expect in the future?” These are questions which the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is asking with its initiative entitled “Energy for the Future”. Big questions which, in their impact and their importance, recall the Industrial Revolution.
“The energy transition is all about decarbonisation,” says Prof. Martin Winter from the MEET (Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology) battery research centre, where batteries are being developed as storage devices for renewable energies. “We need not only green energy generation but also sustainable storage. This will enable us to cater for phases of darkness and lulls, when the sun isn’t shining and there’s no wind,” he says. Batteries, he adds, are more efficient than hydrogen storage systems, which need three times as many wind turbines for a certain quantity. An interdisciplinary team from the fields of Biology, Economics, the Humanities and Chemistry is also working on the sustainability of the materials from which the batteries are manufactured.
This is one aspect – the technical and industrial one – of the necessary reorientation of energy. However, what is at least as important is to get as many people as possible involved in order to gain acceptance and get them participating. Prof. Antonia Graf, who undertakes research at the Institute of Political Science on, among other things, participation in the energy transition, knows about the situation existing at the outset. “Currently, according to the German government, 90 percent of the population in this country have a positive attitude to the energy transition, but only 20 percent give good marks for the way it is being implemented,” she says. Something that is of key importance for acceptance, she adds, is that the burden should be shared fairly – but what is ‘fair’? “Proportionally speaking, poorer households bear a far greater burden of energy costs than those with good incomes,” she points out. With the aim of involving people in the energy transition, the government of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) passed the so-called Bürgerenergiegesetz (Citizens’ Energy Act) in 2023. The Act provides for local government and its residents to have a financial stake in value creation from new wind energy projects. “People’s enthusiasm for the project can be kindled if they can actively participate in it and profit from it. NRW is breaking new ground with this Act.”
However, the challenges which a broad process of change in society entails are linked to a special responsibility which a global perspective demands. Philosopher Prof. Michael Quante, together with his eponymous working group, has published a book entitled ‘Energieverantwortung’ (‘Taking Responsibility for Energy’). “Every single one of us bears an individual responsibility to become aware of the consequences of our own activities and to take an approach to using energy guided by the idea of sustainability,” he says. Moreover, he adds, what is needed is a collective sense of responsibility at the institutional level which also goes beyond national borders. An ethical approach to the future is required, he says, which also takes into account social and political stipulations and contributes to finding pragmatic solutions to problems. “Responsibility for energy can only be put into practice in an ethically appropriate way if the opportunities and the risks which go hand in hand with this are distributed fairly, both within a country and at an international level,” says Quante.
So far, energy policy has been negotiated primarily at the level of individual countries. The range is enormous. A few of the main points: Donald Trump has announced his intention of significantly increasing the exploration and production of fossil fuels in his second term of office as US President. He intends to appoint Chris Wright as energy minister, a chief executive from the oil and gas industry who, in a LinkedIn video, has denied that there is any climate crisis. At the same time, in the US states of Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Florida there are some of the largest and economically most successful plants for generating renewable energies. According to the non-governmental organisation “Global Energy Monitor”, China is, on the one hand, building almost twice as much solar and wind energy capacity as the rest of the world all put together. But, on the other hand, it is counting on new coal-fired power plants to meet domestic demand for energy. Sweden, Norway and Denmark are seen as being pioneers in the energy transition, giving rise to the McKinsey consultancy company’s description of them as the “Nordic Silicon Valley of Sustainability” – although it is actually traditional companies which are driving the transformation. One cause of this is probably the CO2 pricing introduced back in the early 1990s. Since the beginning of 2025, Norway has stopped allowing any new cars with an international combustion engine to be registered. All this shows that the energy transition is a multi-faceted challenge, and one which is based on both individual and institutional responsibility, and which will be displaying countless examples of progress and, quite possibly, setbacks.
And in Germany? The conservative CDU’s candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently announced a “paradigm shift in energy policy” and questioned the exit from nuclear power as well as the exit from coal-mining. The Green Party, by contrast, have the aim – as stated in the government’s programme – to have 80 percent of the demand for electricity being met by renewables by 2030 (currently, the figure stands at around 60 percent). So what strategy will be pursued after the coming election in Germany, and what will the global trend be? It will be very interesting to see which scenarios win out for the energy of the future.
Author: Anke Poppen
This article is from the University newspaper wissen|leben No. 1, 29 January 2025.