Germany on the road to net zero: a new Web Atlas shows the options
Which technical and nature-based options as well as political decisions can support Germany in being CO2-neutral? These questions are answered by the new web atlas of the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. The new tool is aimed at politicians, experts and the public. The HZB has also contributed to the web atlas.
Since July 2019, the Helmholtz Climate Initiative is working to congregate all expertise in the Helmholtz Research Centers on climate issues. One result is a comprehensive web atlas on which Helmholtz researchers from all disciplines have contributed. The online atlas clearly presents the current state of knowledge and is constantly updated.
The content is presented in a comprehensible way and the depth of information can be freely selected so that relevant information can be found quickly and easily. Markings indicate the three information levels "Overview", "Practice", "Background".
The atlas is divided into four chapters: Technological Lever, Decision Support Lever, Roadmaps under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Partner Centres of Net Zero-2050.
The HZB contributions are in the chapter on technological levers. Björn Rau has compiled information on building-integrated photovoltaics and Matthew Mayer has contributed to two articles on the electrochemical conversion of CO2.
Digital knowledge transfer
"The web atlas is about digital knowledge transfer," says Daniela Jacob, director of GERICS. "It acts as a showcase for the research contributions of a total of ten Helmholtz Centres that have contributed their expertise to the Net Zero 2050 project."
"The contributions of our partners are presented in two different formats such as georeferenced maps with explanatory text or as a picture story with accompanying text," explains Swantje Preuschmann from GERICS, who heads the Web Atlas project. "On the one hand, the atlas should convey scientifically based facts, but on the other hand it should also be intuitive and playful to experience."
Triggering dialogue
The tool is intended to contribute to a broad dialogue in society and facilitate the transfer of knowledge from science to actors in politics, public administration and other "climate-relevant" decision-makers. This should help to actually make Germany CO2-neutral by the middle of this century.
Further information: https://atlas.netto-null.org
- BESSY II: New sample environment allows glimpse into thermocatalytic processesA novel measurement cell allows, for the first time, soft and hard X-ray investigations under high pressures of up to 20 bar and temperatures of up to 400°C. This provides new insights into thermocatalytic processes, such as the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for producing synthetic fuels. The development of the measurement cell is considered a significant achievement within the Care-O-Sene project.
- 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.
- Perovskite triple-junction solar cells: Even more efficient with GO/SAM bilayersPerovskite semiconductors efficiently convert sunlight into electrical energy; they are also inexpensive and extremely lightweight. A team at HZB has developed a triple-junction solar cell comprising different perovskite semiconductors, with a novel bilayer of graphene oxide (GO) and a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) as the hole conductor. This bilayer significantly increases both efficiency and long-term stability. The efficiency of the novel perovskite triple-junction solar cell is 27.3% and shows hardly any decline even after more than 770 hours of operation. The study has been published in the renowned journal Joule.