Program
This posting is likewise dynamic and will be updated as the event planning evolves.
The list of active participants and their roles are currently under development — as is the broader event format. But the emphasis will be on minimizing delivered presentations and on maximizing dialog and interaction.
Again please contact me @robbie.morrison if you would like to contribute, facilitate, or record. And don’t be shy in coming forward — our house really is on fire.
Presenters
The following presenters are confirmed. Presentations are nominally 10 minutes and slides are optional.
| Participant | Affiliation | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Christiana Mauro | Nuclear Transparency Watch | strategies for overcoming barriers to data access |
| Berit Müller | DGS | public policy for solar technologies grounded on detailed analysis |
| Berit Erlach | GermanZero | developing a 1.5°C‑compliant Klimaplan for Germany |
| Felix Reitz | Europe Beyond Coal | transitioning to sustainable district-heating systems |
| Stefan Pfenninger | ETH Zurich | energy system models and their limitations |
| Christopher Mutel | Paul Scherrer Institute | the BONSAI database for LCA |
| Gregor Hagedorn | Scientists for Future | “help us sketch and annotate the solution space” |
| Simon Worthington | Open Science Lab, TIB | open research for climate change |
| Diana Süsser | IASS Potsdam | what influences what? the energy model‑policy‑nexus |
Notes: ✻ = to be confirmed
Schedule
Under current planning, the morning will comprise short presentations and panel discussions with plenty of opportunity for questions. The afternoon will comprise breakout groups followed by a plenary session and wrap‑up.
Synopses
Christiana Mauro (Nuclear Transparency Watch) Strategies for overcoming barriers to data access. Signatories to the European Aarhus Convention are required to ensure adequate public participation opportunities for all national and transboundary projects likely to have a significant effect on the environment. Consideration of the logic set out by the European Court and the findings of the Aarhus Compliance Committee can help scientific and activist communities obtain the information they require for their advocacy and research objectives. Dialogue and tactical cooperation between these communities can also create unique opportunities for achieving their respective aims, particularly when challenging non‑disclosure through litigation.
Berit Müller (DGS — German Association For Solar Energy) Public policy for solar technologies grounded on detailed analysis. As a consumer association, we are active in various expert groups and take part in hearings in legislative procedures. In order to come to a common opinion on the various topics our association covers, energy system analysis could be extremely helpful. In my presentation I will give examples of these topics.
Berit Erlach (GermanZero) Developing a 1.5°C‑compliant Klimaplan for Germany. [provisional synopsis] The newly founded GermanZero civil society organization released the first issue of their Klimaplan at a press conference on 17 December 2019. GermanZero call for Germany to be carbon‑neutral by 2035 consistent with an equitable share of the remaining global carbon budget that limits warming to 1.5°C. This presentation discusses the analytical issues faced in drawing up the plan and how current analytical shortcomings might be best addressed.
Felix Reitz (Europe Beyond Coal) Transitioning to sustainable district‑heating systems. The Europe Beyond Coal campaign is a network of independent NGOs that promotes the phase‑out of coal power stations in Europe with a diverse set of approaches. In a new project, we want to develop strategies to address coal‑fired CHPs. We believe that retiring these plants requires the development of sustainable solutions for covering their heat output. This means that quick and dirty solutions like drop‑in substitution with gas are undesirable. Instead, a wide range of different solutions on the demand/grid/supply side need to be planned and implemented — a complex task, which requires coordinated action from many different stakeholders and, in particular, science‑based advisors. Currently, we are learning and analyzing how to best engage here as a civil society organization. In this session I want to give you a brief overview of the matter and an outline of the questions we face.
Stefan Pfenninger (ETH Zurich) Energy system models and their limitations. [provisional synopsis] This presentation discusses the types of energy system models currently in use and under development, their capabilities, and their limitations.
Christopher Mutel (Paul Scherrer Institute) The BONSAI database for life cycle assessment. [provisional synopsis] Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to estimate the environmental impacts of a product, service, or process over its lifetime and to indicate ways that those impacts might be reduced. LCA is therefore data intensive. This presentation describes the BONSAI community dedicated to create and maintain a truly global open database for product footprinting and some of the issues they face in their endeavor.
Gregor Hagedorn (Scientists for Future) Help us to sketch and annotate the solution space for sustainability! Energy models and their implications for sustainability and especially climate change are hard to understand. Different groups come to different results — and while the conclusions are often well represented, the underlying assumptions are usually not very transparent. Some of this may be unavoidable, but can we improve on this situation? Open source models are useful as they enable collaboration — but the task of communicating the assumptions and results remains a separate necessity.
Simon Worthington (Open Science Lab, TIB — German National Library of Science and Technology) Open Climate Knowledge — 100% open research for climate change. Open Climate Knowledge (OCK) is an open research project for data mining open access (OA) papers related to climate change, building stats on OA publishing rates, and providing a toolset for researchers inside and outside of academia. OA publishing rates within climate science are currently less than 30% (Tai and Robinson 2018). The OCK also promotes climate change research that is 100% open science though two further project goals:
- to build a knowledge base on rates of open research using the OpenNotebook data mining software developed by Peter Murray-Rust
- to develop recommendations about how best to transition to 100% open research in climate science
Diana Süsser (IASS Potsdam) What influences what? The energy model‑policy‑nexus. Policymakers now face the challenge of taking decisions about some future unfamiliar renewables‑dominated energy system — one completely different from the fossil‑based system in terms of technologies, spatial requirements, democratization, and so forth. Well‑informed policymaking is needed and suggests the use of new energy planning models. But what role should energy models play in this process? Does policy influence the energy futures that are modeled? Or vice‑versa? This talk discusses whether and how energy models influence policymaking — and if and how policymakers influence the design, development, and interpretation of those same models. Finding answers to these questions is part of our ongoing research within the European Union project SENTINEL.
References
GermanZero (December 2019). Der 1,5‑Grad‑Klimaplan für Deutschland: Gemeinsamer Aufbruch gegen die Klimakrise [The 1.5‑degree climate plan for Germany: a joint start against the climate crisis] (in German). Hamburg, Germany: GermanZero.
Tai, Travis C, and James PW Robinson (2018). “Enhancing climate change research with open science”. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 6 (115). ISSN 2296-665X. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2018.00115.