Cooperation of cities and surrounding areas for climate resilience: Governance innovations for the combined use of biomass and waste heat for energy provision (KlimaInnoGovernance)

Project staff
Ines Weller (project lead), Stefanie Baasch (project coordination), Judith Maschke

Project duration
04/2018 - 04/2022

Funding
Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Project Partner
Europa-Universität Flensburg, Energie 2000 e.V. , Institut für Zukunftsstudien und Technologiebewertung, Stadt Wolfhagen, Stadt Felsberg, Stadt Hofgeismar

Description
The innovativeness of this joint project lies in the development of governance structures for integrating unused biomass potential as well as industrial waste heat in local energy transformation. Public and private waste and energy management offers plentiful optimization potential – especially regarding by-products. This joint project will develop decision support for using this potential for local heat and other energy provision in an ecologically and economically appropriate way. Additionally, we will focus on the establishment of cooperative strategies for optimizing biomass production in locations which are not suitable for food and feed production, or are suitable only in a limited way. When analysing the organizational and governance innovations and their implementation strategies as well as reflecting on their transferability into other environmental and climate related fields, we will follow a fully transdisciplinary approach. Regarding analysing the technical potential, various aspects need to be considered, such as the integration of multiple types of biomass, as well as their seasonal availability.

This joint project will be carried out by several partners, and it is coordinated by artec at the University of Bremen. Following a genuinely transdisciplinary approach, the consortium includes: scientific institutions with expertise in sustainability research, future studies, and transformation research; energy consultancies with a strong regional expertise; communities and local districts in the region of Northern Hesse. Additional expertise will be provided by regional cooperation partners, such as machinery rings, local farmers’ associations, district waste management facilities, private companies, etcetera.

The overall goal of the project is to identify appropriate governance structures and implementation strategies for sustainable regional transitions, using the example of an optimized utilization of regional biomass for energy, including utilizing industrial waste heat”. Furthermore, the project aims to examine the sustainability, scope, and transferability of the results.