Das Projekt "PV-H2-Boot Solgenia" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Hochschule Konstanz Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung, HTGW, Institut für Angewandte Forschung , Energiewandlung in Solarsystemen (IAF,EWIS) durchgeführt. 1. Introduction: In view of the increasing problem of energy supply, the University of Applied Sciences Konstanz developed a research boat powered by photovoltaic and fuel cells. The core question of the research project is, if such a combination represents a viable option for recreational and commercial boating. To answer this question, long-time performance-studies of each component by itself and in combination with others in marine environment are necessary. An Information-Management-System (IMS) interfacing to about ninety parameters was developed, providing the basis for analysis. 2. Energy Supply System: The energy supply system consists of two energy conversion units (PV-generator and fuel cell) and two energy storage units (battery and hydrogen tank). A DC/AC-inverter together with an asynchronous motor converts the electrical energy into mechanical energy for the propeller. The voltages between the three fuel cell modules as well as the PV-generator and the battery are adjusted by DC/DC-converters (see figure 1). The hydrogen will be provided by an electrolysis unit within the laboratory driven by a PV-generator and stored on land. One of the research aims is to adapt the hydrogen production depending on solar radiation to the hydrogen demand by the stationary fuel cells (in the laboratory) and the mobile fuel cells (in the boat). 3. Information management system (IMS): The requirements which the IMS has to fulfil are quite complex: 1. a real-time control-system has to operate the boat and process the parameters, 2. a graphical user interface has to provide meaningful and clear information for skipper as well as service and scientist, 3.measured data has to be periodically transmitted to a data bank at the institute for further processing. Use of the Internet gives independence of location. 4. Energy management: Energy management is one of the main tasks of the IMS. One of the research aims is to develop and optimize the management rules. The energy system itself consists of one controllable (fuel cell) and one not controllable energy converter (PV-generator) as well as of two energy storage devices (battery and H2-tank). Parameters affecting the energy management are among others: speed of boat, distance to travel, battery capacity and solar radiation. These parameters are either measured directly or calculated by the IMS. The Solgenia additionally will be used as laboratory unit in teaching: The students shall become familiar with the fundamental problems of managing renewable energies. 5. Graphical user interface: An industrial touch panel PC serves as man-machine-interface. The graphical user interface was divided into two basic groups: skipper and service/scientist. The menu for the latter group was protected by password to prevent an inexperienced skipper from creating any mischief. etc.
Das Projekt "Water and global Change (WATCH)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung e.V. durchgeführt. Der globale Wasserkreislauf ist ein integraler Teil des Erdsystems. Er spielt eine zentrale Rolle in der globalen atmosphärischen Zirkulation, kontrolliert den globalen Energiekreislauf (mittels der latenten Wärme) und hat einen starken Einfluss auf die Kreisläufe von Kohlenstoff, Nährstoffen und Sedimenten. Global gesehen ist das Angebot an Frischwasser bei weitem größer als die menschlichen Bedürfnisse. Allerdings ist davon auszugehen, dass gegen Ende des 21. Jahrhunderts diese Bedürfnisse die gleiche Größenordnung erreichen werden wie das gesamte verfügbare Wasser. Für diverse Regionen jedoch übersteigt der Wasserbedarf (u.a. für die Landwirtschaft sowie die Nutzung in der Industrie und in den Haushalten) schon heute das regionale Angebot. Ansteigende CO2-Konzentrationen und Temperaturen führen zu einer Intensivierung des globalen Wasserkreislaufs und somit zu einem generellen Anstieg von Niederschlag, Abfluss und Verdunstung. Obwohl die Vorhersagen von zukünftigen Niederschlagsänderungen relativ unsicher sind, gibt es deutliche Hinweise, dass einige Regionen, wie z.B. der Mittelmeerraum, mit einer Abnahme des Niederschlags zu rechnen haben, während in einigen äquatornahen Regionen, wie z.B. Indien und der Sahelzone, der Niederschlag zunehmen wird. Hinzu kommt, dass sich auch jahreszeitliche Verläufe ändern könnten, die neue und manchmal auch unerwartete Probleme und Schäden verursachen können. Eine Intensivierung des Wasserkreislaufs bedeutet wahrscheinlich auch einen Anstieg in dessen Extremen, d.h. vor allem Überschwemmungen und Dürren. Es gibt Vermutungen, dass sich auch die interannuale Variabilität erhöhen wird und zwar einhergehend mit einer Intensivierung der El Nino und NAO-Zyklen, was zu mehr Dürren und großskaligen Hochwassersituationen führen würde. Diese Zyklen sind globale Phänomene, die diverse Regionen gleichzeitig beeinflussen, wenngleich dies oft auf verschiedene Art und Weise passiert.
Das Projekt "European Sub-Polar Oceans Project, ESOP-2" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Zentrum für Meeres- und Klimaforschung, Institut für Meereskunde (IfM) durchgeführt. The goal of the ESOP-II project, funded by the European Unions MAST III programme, is to understand the thermohaline circulation in the Greenland Sea, its sensitivity, and impact on global ocean circulation, building on an unique combination of novel experimental techniques, modelling and experience, gained under ESOP-1. The project is a consortium of scientists from 21 laboratories in 8 European countries (D, DK, F, Iceland, I, N, UK, S). The focus of ESOP-2 is to study the formation of deep water in the Greenland sea, one of the most active regions in the world's oceans for this process. Deep water formation in the Nordic Seas drives the global 'Conveyor-belt', that is recognized to be relevant to climate and climate change.
Das Projekt "How is the evolution of stratospheric ozone affected by climate change, and how strong is the feedback? (SHARP-OFC)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bremen, Institut für Umweltphysik durchgeführt. One major goal of this project is to analyse updated observational trace gas data together with stateof- the art models (CTMs and CCMs) in order to obtain a better understanding of the interaction between ozone and climate change and the underlying dynamical and chemical processes. The extended satellite, balloon and aircraft observations combined with improved model calculations (CTM and CCM) are used to further reduce the uncertainties in the bromine budget, in particular the contribution from VSLS (very short lived substances) and to further elucidate on the role of iodine in the stratosphere. Furthermore detailed studies on the long-term evolution (trends and variability) of observed stratospheric trace gases with foci on profiles of O3, NO2 and aerosols retrieved from SCIAMACHY are proposed. Future evolution of stratospheric ozone will be investigated using updated EMAC CCM model runs, some of them in combination with an interactive atmosphere-ocean feedback. In addition to issues on the climate feedback on future ozone, particular emphasis will be given to the increasing role of N2O and GHG emissions.
Das Projekt "Impacts of Solar Home System Usage in Rural Burkina Faso" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung e.V. RWI, Kompetenzbereich Umwelt und Ressourcen durchgeführt. In remote areas with low electrification rates, Solar Home Systems (SHS) can be seen as a promising alternative to the investment-intensive extension of the electricity grid. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides funding to a project in Burkina Faso that offers SHS to rural households using a market-based approach. The SHS that are distributed can provide electric lighting and - depending on the chosen capacity of the system - allow for the usage of small electric appliances up to colored television. As part of the series of impact evaluations of development activities supported by the Netherlands on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, RWI and ISS assess the socio-economic impact of the usage of SHS such as improved living conditions, time savings, increased security, better health conditions, and educational attainment trough extended study hours. The idea is to conduct a difference-in-difference approach based on household surveys before and after the intervention, in combination with propensity score matching (PSM) to better match control and treatment households on pre-program characteristics (e.g. education, socio-economic status, income, asset-ownership, characteristics of the villages they live in). Following the roll-out plan of Yeelen Ba's activities, a baseline survey was conducted in November 2010 based on a random sample of villages that are in the program's catchment area. In total, 1,200 households in 40 villages (30 households per village) were interviewed. A particular focus was on the use of appliances and energy expenditures, as well as convenience and comfort aspects before and after the SHS was installed. For the difference-in-difference approach the sample will be divided into a treatment group consisting of households who will have obtained an SHS in the meantime and a control group consisting of untreated households. The follow-up survey will be conducted two years after the baseline survey in November 2012. All households will be revisited and differences in the changes in the outcome variables between the treatment group and the control group will be assessed, providing insights about how ownership of an SHS changes the socio-economic living conditions of the households.
Das Projekt "Programm zur Niedrigemissions-Technologie, Phase III - LOW NOx III" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Motoren- und Turbinen Union Friedrichshafen durchgeführt. 1. Pilot Stage Combustor: In diesem Vorhaben wird das Konzept der Fett-Mager Verbrennung als Pilot-Stufe einer brennstoffgestuften Brennkammer untersucht. Dabei soll die Interaktion der Kuehlung, der fetten Stufe und der Mischluft derart optimiert werden, dass die Homogenitaet der fetten Stufe verbessert wird. 2. Applied CFD: In diesem Vorhaben werden Modelle, die die Interaktion der Waermefreisetzung mit der turbulenten Schwankungsbewegung getestet und anhand vorhandener Experimente verifiziert.
Das Projekt "AURORa - Investigation of the Radar Backscatter of Rain Impinging on the Ocean Surface" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Zentrum für Meeres- und Klimaforschung, Institut für Meereskunde (IfM) durchgeführt. Over land, observations of rain rates are more or less operational. To obtain information about precipitation at the coastal zones, weather radars are used. However, over the oceans, especially away from the main shipping routes, no direct precipitation measurements are performed. In these regions, satellite data can provide information about precipitation events. Satellites deploying passive and active microwave sensors can operate independently of cloud cover and time of day. Passive microwave sensors give crude estimates of rain rates over large areas but cannot resolve small-scale rain events of short duration as are often observed in the tropics, for example. Active microwave sensors with high resolutions, such as synthetic aperture radars can provide more reliable information. Though the effect of rain on the atmosphere is a very topical area of research, the radar backscattering mechanisms at the water surface during rain events combined with wind are still not well understood. The purpose of this project is to investigate the radar backscattering from the water surface in the presence of rain and wind in order to interpret satellite radar data produced by active microwave sensors. Furthermore, the results should be embedded into models of the radar backscattering from the water surface to allow for estimating rain rates by using satellite data. Research topics: Rain impinging on a water surfaces generates splash products including crowns, cavities, stalks and secondary drops, which do not propagate, and ring waves and subsurface turbulence. We are investigating this phenomena at the wind-wave tank of the University of Hamburg. The tank is fitted with an artificial rain simulator of 2.3 m2 area mounted 4.5 m over the water surface. Rain drops of 2.1 and 2.9 mm in diameter with rain rates up to 100 mm/h have been produced. Wind with speeds 10 m/s and monomolecular slicks act on the water surface. The influence of the rain on the water surface is measured with a resistance type wire gauge, a two dimensional laser slope gauge and an coherent 9.8 GHz (x band) continuous wave scatterometer operating at VV-, HH- and HV-polarization. The influence of rain below the water surface is measured with colored raindrops which are observed with a video camera to investigate the turbulent motion and the depth of the mixed layer. At the North Sea Port of Buesum in Germany, a scatterometer operating at all polarizations and five frequencies will be mounted during summer of this year. The radar backscatter of the sea surface during rain events will be measured in combination with meteorological observations. With help of these measurements, existing radar backscatter models of the water surface will be improved for the presence of rain events. To validate the improved models, ERS-2 SAR-images will be compared with weather radar data.
Das Projekt "Shift in the syncronisation of leaf decay processes in fragmented streams" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität Cottbus, Institut für Boden, Wasser, Luft, Lehrstuhl für Gewässerschutz, Forschungsstelle Bad Saarow durchgeführt. Climate change will increase summer droughts and cause both, premature leaf fall and temporary fragmentation of streams into a series of pools. This match of low flow situations with litter input is likely to alter litter processing. Based on results from Aquashift period 1, we hypothesise change of the invertebrate shredder community and shift among microbial and invertebrate leaf processing. These will change the dynamics of the energy supply of the benthic food web. In pools of summer-dry streams we will expose litter-bags (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) to assess mass loss, microbial colonisation (fungi, bacteria) and invertebrate shredding of leaves. Stepwise exclusion of larger invertebrates from litter-bags will assess the significance of suggested shift from dominance of large shredder (Gammarus) to small invertebrates (Chironomidae). In microcosm experiments we want to investigate the effect of factor combinations found in fragmented pools on microbial and invertebrate leaf processing. A leaf decay simulation model will be build in joint activity with the University Braunschweig to test significance of environmental factors. Linking the population dynamics model of Gammarus pulex at Univ. Braunschweig, the dynamics of FPOM production from leaves will be predicted under various climate change scenarios.
Das Projekt "A8:Transporte und Flüsse durch die Bodengrenzschicht" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel (GEOMAR) durchgeführt. The major goal of this new subproject is to estimate transport and fluxes of solutes between the bottom boundary layer, the stratified interior ocean and the ocean mixed layer on the continental slope and shelf regions of the Peruvian and Mauritanian Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZ). The objectives will be achieved by estimating diapycnal and advective fluxes using two different methodological approaches: The first is basedon the measurement of the radium isotope distribution in sediments and in the water column. The second approach will use a combination of oceanographic measuring systems for the determination of turbulences, currents and hydrography. Subproject A8 will contribute to the understanding of the solute budget of the OMZ's and establishes a link between the benthic and pelagic research foci within the SFB 754.
Das Projekt "E 2.3: Shelf life extension of fresh litchi, longan and mango fruits through integrated postharvest techniques" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Lebensmittelwissenschaft und Biotechnologie, Fachgebiet Lebensmittel pflanzlicher Herkunft (150d) durchgeführt. In Northern Thailand and Vietnam, fresh fruit marketing still plays the key role in utilisation of the highly perishable fruits studied. Increasing export rates aspired by local fruit producers are hindered by the present practice of shelf life extension based on sulphur fumigation and fungicide application, respectively, because of raising legal and consumer restriction. Alternative ways ensuring the demand for sound fruit of good eating quality are urgently required. Since picking, packing and marketing form the major costs of fruit production, E2.3 aims at improved productivity by optimisation of fresh fruit marketing through an integrated high-quality concept for shelf life extension to meet export qualities and standards and to facilitate the access to remote markets and processing factories. This approach relies on two pillars: (1) innovative postharvest processes and (2) plant-physiological preharvest factors affecting fruit quality and shelf life, chiefly the proper physiological maturity at harvest. Focus is on shelf life extension and color retention of litchis and longans by minimising enzymatic browning, microbial decay, and water loss through appropriate combinations of various techniques: (1) precooling on field until handover; (2) fruit disinfestation by thermal routines; (3) control of enzymatic browning by innovative inhibition strategies for polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase; (4) suitable shipping within a cool-chain with or without modified atmosphere packaging; (5) application of wetting agents or coatings. By analogy, integrated strategies for shelf life extension through deceleration of postharvest ripening in export of Thai mango cultivars are explored. To control enzymatic browning in Sapindaceae species, both inhibition experiments on isolated enzymes and application tests with shelf life studies simulating shipping conditions are used. Process optimisation is based on statistical experimental designs. Shelf life is monitored by established chemical methods for plant-physiological indicators of fruit quality, senescence and microbial decay, by the vital microbial count, and by microscopic studies of the peel structure. On-tree maturation is examined for each fruit species to specify physiological harvest maturity as to its impact on quality and shelf life, including studies with E1.2 on non-destructive maturity detection. Cultivation effects on fruit quality and shelf life are jointly investigated with D1.3 and B3.2.
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