Pictures of the Future    Spring 2007

The Power of Persuasion

The head of a research institute shows his family the results of ten years of work on the development of processes and measures to protect the environment. Thanks to extensive cooperation between research institutes and private companies, energy consumption and pollutant emissions in buildings, power plants, and motor vehicles have been substantially reduced through the utilization of new technologies

Where are we now?" asks Sophie, Leonard’s 13-year-old daughter. "This is our new hologram room," her father replies. "This is where we show our guests the different solutions that the institute and its industrial partners worldwide have implemented to reduce the burden on the environment from greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Wait a second, I’m going to turn on the unit..." "Which guests do you mean," Leonard’s father growls impatiently, "the clients who give you the project assignments?" "Exactly," Leonard replies. "That could be operators of industrial facilities, or urban planners from cities that are experiencing very rapid growth in many countries. Electricity consumption is increasing in those cities, traffic is getting out of control, and industries have to produce more and more goods to meet the rising demand. Our job is to come up with intelligent solutions to make sure the environment doesn’t suffer as a result." Sophie seems to be getting a little restless. "When’s that thing going to start up?" she says.

Leonard types a few commands into a panel integrated in a desk in the middle of the room. Instantly, small flashes of light begin dancing over the top of the desk, before transforming themselves into large colorful light beams that join to create an image of the earth with its temperature chart, something Sophie is quite familiar with. Suddenly, three holograms appear before the group in a triangular formation.

Sophie recognizes one of the images immediately. "Hey, that looks like our house!" she calls out. "You’re right, Sophie," her father says. "And I’m going to use this image to explain to you our first assignment, which we carried out right after we established the institute in 2010." "I remember," says Leonard’s father. "CO₂NTRACT was given the job to reduce energy consumption in office buildings. That was really a great beginning."

"Looking back, it wasn’t even all that difficult," says Leonard. "All you need are the right analysis programs to quickly identify the biggest energy consumers in the buildings—like heating and hot water systems, household and electrical appliances, lighting, IT networks, and the like. Then, with the appropriate software, you can determine which levers you need to pull in each building to get the optimal result. In some buildings, you might focus on heat insulation and more efficient refrigerators, while in others you can install energy-saving lamps, waste-heat utilization systems and building management systems that use sensors. There are all kinds of possibilities. If you do things right, you can reduce energy consumption by 30, 40, or 50 %—or even more. The same applies to private houses, which is why we decided to build a ‘passive house’ for ourselves that would ensure minimal energy consumption." All Sophie can say as she stares at the hologram is: "Cool!"

Her father is pleased. "Yes, we were very successful," he continues. "Now I’ll show you what we did about traffic." The three holograms begin to regroup and an image appears that everyone in the room recognizes right away. "Wow, a gas station," says Leonard’s father with a hint of sarcasm, which his son ignores. "It’s not the ‘gas’ station—or in this case, the filling station—that’s important, Dad, but what’s in the tanks: synthetic fuel, or SynFuel." Sophie is unimpressed: "So? We always fill up with that." "That’s right Sophie," Leonard says patiently, "but before you were born, people used other fuels like gasoline and diesel, which were refined from oil and very expensive. The work we did with fuels is part of the reason why today we mostly use biofuels and clean SynFuel from natural gas, tar sand, and coal—and also more and more hydrogen. The big breakthrough that dramatically reduced CO₂ emissions from private vehicles came after we partnered with the automotive industry on the market launch of eDrive systems with electric drive units integrated into vehicle wheels."

"But," Leonard’s father cuts in, "you never would have succeeded were it not for the introduction of emission certificates and the tax system changes discouraging the emission of greenhouse gases." Leonard has to grin as he recalls his father’s days working at the tax department. "Yes, you’re right—you tax people also played a part in that," Leonard says, turning his hand in the air to bring the third hologram, that of a power plant, into the foreground.

"This is one of our new projects," he says. "It’s a fuel cell-hybrid power plant that directly converts natural gas into electricity, at an efficiency level of more than 70 %. That’s currently the world record for a commercial plant—and also 20 % higher than what was possible with a conventional gas and steam turbine plant back around the time you were born, Sophie. So, per unit of electricity, we’ve reduced CO₂ emissions by nearly 30 %, and we can separate the remaining CO₂ and store it underground. What’s more, we’re launching the 10-MW hybrid power plant ten years sooner than originally expected, and our researchers are working on a biomass plant that uses a CO₂ separation process, which will enable us to achieve a net reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."

"And how will you pay for that?" asks Leonard’s father. Leonard smiles. "Why do you think we’re called CO₂NTRACT? The financing will be done through CO₂ contracting. We’ll guarantee our customers a set level of CO₂ savings, and they’ll be able to purchase emission certificates—and also save on taxes. They’ll put part of the savings toward installments running for a period of ten to 15 years to pay us, and our industrial partners, for the services we perform."

Sophie clears her throat: "Uh, Dad?" Leonard looks down at his daughter. Suddenly, his tone somewhat suspicious, he asks: "Sophie, was there a reason why you wanted to visit me here, specifically?" Sophie grins sheepishly. "Yeah, uh, I have to write a school paper about global warming and what we at school can do to help stop it… I thought—and Grandpa also said—that maybe you…" From the corner of his eye, Leonard sees his father’s devilish grin, then sighs, resigned to the fact that he’s been tricked.
                                                                                                          Sebastian Webel