At a workshop, representatives of the KIT Climate and Environment Center and the city of Karlsruhe discussed major fields of future cooperation. Together, they intend to sensitize citizens for climate issues and to develop new projects. The objective is to develop a scientifically founded strategy for the city of Karlsruhe to cope with the challenges of climate change.
The city wishes to use the know-how of KIT in the field of climate and environmental research. The scientists shall make available their findings to the city of Karlsruhe, develop more precise prognoses, and identify potential problems. “Institutions like the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM), the South-German Climate Office, and the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) supply precise measurement data and prognoses and can support the city administration in dealing with the urban climate and vegetation, future development of air quality, extreme weather hazards, or drinking water supply,” outlines the scientific spokesman of the Climate and Environment Center, Professor Johannes Orphal.
More than 40 participants, including mayor Klaus Stapf and the Head of the Municipal Office for Environmental Protection and Industrial Safety, Norbert Hacker, KIT Professor Orphal and the Head of the Climate and Environment Program Dr. Karl-Friedrich Ziegahn, identified and discussed interfaces, competences, and needs to develop joint future projects. The experts discussed in small groups and subsequently presented their results to the plenum.
Another central topic of the workshop was biomass. Based on the biomass concept that is presently being developed in Karlsruhe, the partners wish to study the potential and availability of biomass in and around Karlsruhe. It will be focused on its potential role in energy supply as well as on environmental impacts of biomass utilization. The scientists and city representatives discussed the use of field tests to study exhaust air cleaning. The KIT Center and the city also plan to cooperate in the fields of urban development and area use. They plan to establish a market platform for contact partners and cooperation ideas. In this way, it will be easier for the city to handle competing requirements resulting from urban development legislation, on the one hand, and environmental legislation, on the other. For instance, this structure will help find a compromise between the construction of environmentally compatible energy plants and the preservation of green areas.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.