© HZB/K. Haas (alle Fotos)
They are back: Sheep and goats graze the Wannsee campus again
The meadows are lush green, the ice saints (almost) over: Now is the perfect time for the sheep and goats to return from their winter quarters! Until late autumn, they will now graze the near-natural HZB campus in Wannsee and serve the natural preservation of the landscape - completely without a lawn mower.
The meadows are lush green, the ice saints (almost) over: Now is the perfect time for the sheep and goats to return from their winter quarters! Until late autumn, they will now graze the near-natural HZB campus in Wannsee and serve the natural preservation of the landscape - completely without a lawn mower.
On 14 May 2020, shepherd Olaf Kolecki brought his "protégé" back to the Wannsee campus. Among them are five sheep (4 white Skudden and one black Skudden-Pomeranian Landschaf crossbreed, five lambs (3 white Skudden lambs and 2 black lambs, mother is the crossbreed) and five goats (2 Boer goats, the brown and the brown-white and three goat lambs).
Since goats and sheep have different food preferences, this mixture is just right for maintaining the green areas. The grazing is particularly insect-friendly and contributes to increasing the biodiversity of the wild meadows. And also many employees have grown fond of the animals over the past year and have missed the bleating on the campus a little bit in the last weeks.
In an interview (GER) last year the shepherd answered many questions about his work.
Before the arrival of the sheep and goats, the fenced-in eastern area in Wannsee was still being cleaned up. At the beginning of the year the old meadow orchard was "revived". For this purpose, sheds were torn down and some trees were felled to give the old fruit trees more light again. The wood of the felled trees was piled up in several deadwood heaps. This has created an important habitat and refuge for insects and small animals.
Sustainability at HZB on the Intranet
The HZB is intensively engaged in sustainable action and research. An overview of the topics and measures can be found on the newly designed intranet pages on sustainability (GER).
- Green hydrogen with PEC electrolysers: New insights into transport processesOne method of storing solar energy is to use PEC electrolysers to produce hydrogen. However, scaling up this technology remains challenging. Now, a team at the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels has used 2D fluorescence imaging and particle velocimetry to observe the movement of ions and dissolved gases within the electrolyte during electrolysis. These new insights may prove useful in the development of larger PEC electrolysers.
- New contact material boosts the efficiency of perovskite solar cellsA newly developed material for the electron contact improves the efficiency of single perovskite solar cells and perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. The new material is based on a carborane molecule. It offers several advantages over the standard material C60, as shown by the study led by Steve Albrecht’s team. The new material has since been patented and is already commercially available.
- Precision interface chemistry pushes perovskite solar cells beyond 26% efficiencyAn international research collaboration has developed a new molecular strategy for controlling one of the most critical interfaces in perovskite solar cells. The resulting solar cells reached a power conversion efficiency of 26.19% in the n i p architecture, together with strong operational stability under prolonged illumination and elevated temperature. The results have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.