This presentation shows how a radically new technology can be developed. The case focus on small  island ferries in European waters using new advances materials. Through a case study based on interviews and action research this presentation deals with displacement ferries where a radical innovation is made in the shift from steel designs to a lighter carbon-fiber composite alternative. A key characteristic for eco-innovation is that it combines techniques, practices, and knowledge across existing boundaries. Networking and collaboration therefore become important for creating ideas and implementing these in order to get the environmental innovations on the market. In this case the ideas originate from the actor’s experiences in other sectors: yacht racing and naval operations. The case shows how new, small, and even competing actors on the market create a radical innovation and build a network to support the solution and the actors’ disruptive penetration of a new market that challenges existing technologies. The environmental improvement potential for small ferries is large as the carbon footprint of a ferry’s total impact can be reduced by 50 per cent by switching from heavy steel constructions to lighter carbon composite alternatives. The main environmental savings are related to smaller engines requiring less fuel.

Mr. Henrik Riisgaard
Aalborg University
Aalborg, Denmark

Henrik Riisgaard is associate professor at the Department of Development and Planning at Aalborg University. For more than 20 years he has worked with preventive environmental approaches in industry and the policy frameworks that support them. Henrik has taught engineering students about sustainability in industry. Previously he has worked as business adviser and as eco-innovation expert for the EU Commission. He has also been teaching industrial ecology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and was a visiting Scholar at Stanford University. He has published in Danish and English in texts books and Journals and organized international conferences like the European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production.

Our global system is currently facing severe financial, production, social, and environmental problems. Sustainable development in general, sustainable process industries and their related sustainable systems in particular, are of paramount importance for this reason and due to the very high consumptions of energy in chemical and process industries where only separation processes alone represent about 15% or even 25% of total world energy consumption. Based on the above-mentioned incentives, the driving force is a holistic Process System Engineering approach to the synthesis and designing of sustainable chemical, process, and energy supply-chain networks.

A general mathematical programming framework for the sustainable synthesis will be presented. It consists of applying i) a simultaneous approach in order to exploit complex interactions so that individual subsystems' operations would be adjusted from the system overall performance viewpoint, ii) a multi-objective optimization (MOO) approach using appropriate optimization criteria, and iii) implementation of efficient solution strategies. The advantages and weaknesses of different sustainability measurements - footprints, LCA indexes, and eco-cost applied within MOO will be discussed. The need of upgrading these measurements in order to consider also unburdening effects on the environment, besides the usual burdening ones, will also be discussed. Based on newly defined criteria - total footprints, total LCA indexes, and eco-profit economically efficient solutions can be obtained, where unburdening alternatives have priority over environmentally benign ones.

The synthesis framework will be illustrated on different bioproducts supply chains: i) the total footprints on bioethanol production from different raw-materials, ii) the total LCA index on supply-demand regional biomass network, and iii) the concept of eco-profit on biogas production from different raw materials under different anaerobic conditions. Furthermore, the application of the generic multi-period model for efficient synthesis of biorefinery supply networks for the production of biofuels at the continental level will be presented.

Prof. Zdravko Kravanja
University of Maribor
Maribor, Slovenia

Zdravko Kravanja is a full Professor and vice-Dean at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, where he holds the position of Department chair of Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. He joined the university after several years in industry (1981-1985), and currently leads the Laboratory for Process Systems Engineering and Sustainable Development. He was Visiting Researcher (1988-89) and Visiting Professor at Carnegie Mellon University (1997), and Guest Professor at Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Lyngby on several occasions (1998, 2007, 2010, and 2012). He is a member of the Working Party for Computer Aided Process Engineering (WP-CAPE) at the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE). He served as Chairman (2007-2010) of The European Committee for the Use of Computers in Chemical Engineering Education (EURECHA). Recently he was also President of the Slovenian Academic Association for Engineering and Natural Sciences (SATENA) (2010-2011).

His research over the years has been devoted mainly to the development of algorithmic techniques, strategies, and computerised tools for sustainable Process Systems Engineering, including Heat Integration. Together with Professor Grossmann, he has developed a unique mixed integer process synthesizer shell called MIPSYN. It has been applied to the synthesis of heat integrated reactor networks, separation networks, heat and mass exchanger networks, as well as to whole processes, and as a version TOP (Topology Optimizer) to different mechanical steel structures. Other topics of interest are synthesis under uncertainty with a large number of uncertain parameters, synthesis of heat integrated water networks, synthesis of Total Sites, and the development of multilevel approaches for global optimization. He has (co)-authored more than 100 publications in scientific journals.

Changing energy supplies towards 100% renewable power resources is no longer a question of whether it is possible or not to achieve the aim. But the question is how to reach the aim to an affordable cost and how to reach the aim to obtain a reliable energy system.

The presentation will explain the necessities for balancing fluctuating renewable resources and by which means this can be done. The alternatives are compared to each other and the conclusion drawn will lead to the hypothesis that cities with their already existing energy infrastructure have the prerequisites to fulfil the demands on a least cost basis.

Especially electricity supplies are demanding as in nowadays systems energy storage is negligible. Pure electricity storages are analyzed and compared to other storage options as heat storage and gas storages which could be accesses when coupling different energy sectors.

The presentation will cover the topics of energy storage, smart girds and smart systems, and rivers as energy sources.

Prof. Ingo Stadler
TH Köln
Cologne, Germany

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Ingo Stadler researches and teaches at the TH Köln, where he is responsible for renewable energy and energy economics and is involved in the Cologne Renewable Energy Institute (CIRE), which he co-founded.

He completed his doctorate and habilitation at the University of Kassel. His work covers grid integration of renewables and renewable energy systems and focuses on non-electric storage and load management beyond electricity.

He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Conference on Renewable Energy Storage IRES and the International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environmental Systems SDEWES. For more than a decade he represented Germany in the Photovoltaic Systems Programme of the International Energy Agency IEA.

He is also the editor, together with Prof. Dr. Michael Sterner from OTH Regensburg, of the standard work on energy storage - demand, technologies, integration, published by Springer-Verlag.

In addition, he has been involved in various projects in Brazil for over twenty years, including with the University in Fortaleza and projects with the Society for Cooperation and the regulatory authority ANEEL.

Water is a basic ingredient of life and a fundamental human right. It is a shared resource on which life, the environment and most human activities depends. Water is also a threat to life and livelihoods. Too much water produces disastrous flood, too little awful drought. Yet pressures on water resources are mounting. We are dealing with a hydro-climatic problem with the potential to destroy ecosystems and parts of economy, and exacerbate poverty as well as inequalities and tensions among and between nations. Planetary water resources are significantly affected by global change, which involves more than climate change. The major drivers of global change are: population growth, climate change and/or variability, uncontrolled and unsustainable urbanization and industrialization, expansion of infrastructure, land use change, massive pollution, unsustainable water resources management, massive deforestation, wetland drying up and many other reasons. Achieving global water security for all is an enormous challenge. The global change is the main reasons for necessity of interdisciplinary scientific co-operation in their management and protection. Protection and sustainable management of the water resources is of crucial importance. It is necessary to take the complex, interactive, technical, social, economic, environmental and cultural aspects of global water resources management into account in decision-making. Of special importance is the establishment of firm network of contacts with leading independent scientists, who promote new ideas and concepts independently of mainstream directions. Transfer of information across spatial and temporal scales is one of the most fundamental issues in the water hazard and risk management investigation. Science will give more certainty in water resources management, but will never be enough knowledge. In order to better solve or mitigate future water problems, there is an urgent need to improve strategies, approaches and solutions that will lead towards holistic, more effective and sustainable management. Water must be treated as a high political priority that is integrated into other policy areas. Universities must play a key role by helping governments how to manage and allocate water resources and provide water services. Cooperation around water, for water and through water, must happen everywhere and continuously. In the water sector, the approach is still too often based only on hydrological and climatological data, on modelling and engineering, all relying on the application on scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes and systems. A synthesis of the Newtonian and Darwinian approaches to science, development of interdisciplinary science ecohydrology, will offer opportunities for progress at the intersection of physics and ecology where many critical issues in earth system science reside.

Prof. Ognjen Bonacci
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Split
Split, Croatia

Professor emeritus Ognjen Bonacci is a professor at Split University (Croatia) for more than 38 years. Prof. Bonacci holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. at Zagreb University (Croatia). His research interest includes hydrology (especially karst hydrology), ecohydrology, water resources management, global changes and climate changes connected with water resources and water risks analyses.

He was: (1) chairperson (2004-2006) of IHP-UNESCO Bureau (Elected on the 16th Session of the Intergovernmental Council of IHP-UNESCO - Paris, 20 Sep. 2004); (2) Vice-Chairperson (2007-2008) of IHP-UNESCO Bureau; (3) Member of Advisory Board of the UNESCO IHE Institute for Water Education Delft, Netherlands (elected on 18th Session of the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO - Paris, 13 Jun. 2008). He is: (1) Member of the Academic Committee of the UNESCO International Centre Karst. (IRCK) within the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (from Sep. 2009); (3) Member of International Association of Hydrogeologists Karst Commission (from January 2009). He is author of the following three books: (1) Karst Hydrology – Springer Verlag, Berlin 1987 (in English); (2) Precipitation main input into hydrological cycle – Split University 1994 (in Croatian); (3) Ecohydrology of water resources and open stream flows – Split University 2004 (in Croatian). He is co-author of five books. More than 520 his papers have been published in Croatian, English, German, French, and Russian. About 50 papers have appeared in the leading world scientific journals: (1) Journal of Hydrology; (2) Journal of Hydraulic Research; (3) Hydrological Sciences Journal; (4) Theoretical and Applied Climatology; (5) Water Sciences and Technology; (6) Ground Water; (7) Hydrological Processes; (8) Regulated Rivers; (9) Hydrogeology Journal; (10) Wasserwirtschaft; (11) Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences; (12) Water Resources Bulletin; (13) European Water Management; (14) Engineering Geology; (15) Environmental Geology; (16) Ecohydrology; (17) Environmental Earth Sciences. His papers are cited in ISI Web of Science more than 710 times.

Prof. Bonacci presented more than 120 scientific reports and invited lectures at numerous Universities, international scientific congresses, conferences, workshops, symposia etc. in Paris, Washington, New Delhi, Kiev, Varna, Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, London, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Athens, Thessaloniki, Regensburg, Bucharest, Ljubljana, Postojna, Rome, Warsaw, Gdansk, Budapest, La Chaux de Fond, Besançon, Southampton, St. Moritz, Zurich, Vitoria, Vienna, Neuchatel, Lisbon, Belgrade, Ohrid, Skopje, Amsterdam, Niigata, Tokyo, Guilin etc.

He was the project manager of Japanese-Croatian scientific project “Risk identification and land use planning for disaster mitigation of landslides and floods in Croatia”, and leader and collaborator on more than 10 national and international scientific projects in fields of hydrology and water resources management.

The energy transition towards sustainable renewable energy is technically possible and economically feasible. There are enough renewable resources like wind and solar for the power sector. The energy storage problems are solved. Improved energy efficiency can halve the energy demand in the heating sector. What’s left is the transportation sector and the producing chemical industry, both depending over 90 % on fossil fuels like oil and gas. Besides electromobility and biofuels, power-generated fuels and chemical energy carries like naturals gas substitute (SNG), methanol, diesel or hydrogen can be generated by Power-to-Gas and Power-to-Liquid. The necessary energy resources for these “power fuels“ are huge, and one large unused potential is found at the seas in form of wind energy. A new concept of harvesting base load wind with energy ships will be presented at the conference.

The keynote will give an overview on Germany’s energy transition from today until 2050 on 90 – 100 % renewable energy supply. Several scenarios on power networks and market simulation with a high spatial and temporal resolution (14 x 14 km; 1 h) based on numerical weather models will give in-depth insight into the shape of the future energy systems and the interdependence between the different sectors for power, heat, fuels and gas. The contribution of several balancing options like network expansion, demand side integration, flexible generation and cross-sectorial energy storage will be analyzed.

A highlight of the presentation will be the presentation of a new storage and fuel generation concept, which we developed: sail energy.

The sail energy concept uses offshore wind to generate renewable fuels on board. This process is combining mechanical, electrical and chemical conversion steps: First, offshore wind is converted by various sailing technologies on a ship into mechanical translation. This force is converted into mechanical torque and electricity by using a marine turbo machine including generator fixed at the vessel, that extracts energy from the ship’s propulsion.

The generated electricity is used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen onboard in an electrolysis unit. Via the process technologies Power-to-Gas and Power-to-Liquid, hydrogen is combined with CO2 to generate gaseous and liquid fuels. These fuels are fully compatible with today’s natural gas and mineral oil infrastructure with all its multiple applications for heating systems, power plants and vehicles. By following the wind, the wind energy can be harvested constantly as base load and fuel be produced economically.

Concluding, it is possible to transform the global energy supply to a sustainable base, technically, economically and ecologically and mitigate climate change.

Prof. Michael Sterner
Technical University OAS Regensburg
Regensburg, Germany

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Sterner works as professor for energy storage and renewable energy systems at the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg in Germany. He is teaching renewable energy, energy economics, renewable energy integration and energy storage. Before he was head of energy systems and energy economy at the Fraunhofer-Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology for several years, were he invented and developed a new storage technology together with colleagues: Power-to-Gas. Meanwhile, various industry companies like E-ON and Audi have adopted the concept and built demo plants in MW scale.

He works for the German Electrotechnical Society (VDE), is a co-autor for the Special Report on Renewable Energy (SRREN) in IPCC and consulting the German government on the “Energiewende” – the transformation of energy systems. He is as well in the scientific committee of the Eurosolar IRES (Int. Renewable Energy Storage Conference) and the Energy Storage Conference Düsseldorf and leading several other conferences like the VDI energy storage conference.

Michael Sterner has published various contributions in scientific journals and books and given over 200 presentations on renewable energy, especially energy and climate, bioenergy, integration of renewable energy technologies, 100% renewable energy systems and energy system modeling on national and international conferences. Together with Ingo Stadler, he is the author of the 600 pages standard reference work “Energy storage – demand, technologies, integration”, published by Springer-Verlag in Heidelberg, Berlin, New York.

He studied mechanical and electrical engineering, process and IT engineering and the physics of renewable energy at the University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg and Augsburg and the University of Oldenburg. He worked in the field of solar engineering, system analysis, biomass gasification, wind energy and storage technologies in Valencia, Spain; Santiago de Chile, Chile; Mysore, India and various places in Germany.

In 2009, he completed his PhD degree in electrical engineering on the subject of integrating bioenergy in 100% renewable energy systems, the new storage concept power-to-gas and the transformation of energy systems in the context of climate mitigation.