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  1. Home
  2. Research
  3. Sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability and IT - does that fit together? Digitization can and will play a major role in sustainability research in the future.

With growing success and the opening up of ever new areas of application, the hunger for resources of digital technologies is increasing. We are facing up to this effect and examining ICT from a sustainability perspective. For example, simulations and forecasts in particular place sometimes enormous demands on computing power and require large amounts of energy and resources. Precisely because of the significant results and access from any smartphone, it is assumed that the use of digital technologies will continue to increase dramatically in the future. Cloud-based as well as block-chain-based applications require a lot of computing power, which has to be provided in data centers, with the prospect of increasing computing power.

Sustainable development through new technologies

New technologies are considered the main driver and guarantor for clean economic growth and sustainable development in the future. However, many raw materials contained in the material base are classified as "critical raw materials" by criticality assessments due to their economic importance and supply risk, and some are even classified as "conflict commodities" due to serious violations of human rights or international humanitarian law in connection with their extraction and trade. Although digital technologies can help here, for example to document and trace the origin and prevent possible conflicts in the future, it will not lead to the consumption of fewer raw materials.

Circular Economy Strategy

There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, for example, have long since become part of everyday life, from the living room with Amazon Alexa to the cloud services of Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Baidu and Alibaba and their use in critical infrastructures such as efficient and sustainable energy network management. But this now also means that the system must be viewed holistically over several life cycle phases and is thus based on the Circular Economy Strategy.

 

© Shutterstock / petovarga

The European Commission's "Circular Economy Strategy" has further raised awareness of the sustainable use of resources in the economy and society. Political measures aim at reducing the environmental impact of old products or reducing negative influences in the value chain, e.g. in the trade with conflict minerals (EU regulation on the fulfillment of due diligence obligations in the supply chain of so-called "conflict raw materials"). With regard to products at the end of their life cycle, the waste hierarchy focuses on re-use and recycling as preferred strategies over recovery or landfill. In line with the circular economy, it should be to use digital technologies to reuse and process more raw materials or products and to use them longer as used parts. This is by no means limited to the field of consumer goods, but also reaches into the field of sustainable mobility (e.g. raw materials for battery technologies and their recycling) and into the field of renewable energies (e.g. share of critical raw materials in renewable energy technologies and their recovery).

OFFIS therefore deals with the use of digital technologies for environmental and health protection as well as with the improved efficiency of the technology itself (Green IT).

 

Sustainability goals

At the global level, the 17 sustainability goals published by the United Nations therefore play a major role. The United Nations' Agenda 2030 is an expression of a new quality of policy: everything should be considered and addressed with a view to sustainable development. In contrast to previous programs on sustainable development, the Agenda applies equally to industrialized countries, emerging economies and developing countries. These 17 sustainability goals have therefore also been incorporated into the German government's strategy. The German Advisory Council on Global Change issued an expert report on "Our Common Digital Future" and made concrete research recommendations in the context of sustainable digitization, or is currently requesting an open statement at international level.

OFFIS also bases its research on the 17 sustainability goals, such as health and well-being, high-quality education, affordable and clean energy or sustainable cities and communities. Sustainable consumption and sustainable production will also receive more attention in the future.

Source: UN

Contact

Dr. Ing. Alexandra Pehlken
Dr. Ing.
Alexandra Pehlken

Susanne Boll
Susanne Boll

Persons

B

Susanne Boll

E-Mail: susanne.boll(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-213, Room: O48

D

Maria Fernanda Davila Restrepo

E-Mail: maria.fernanda.davila.restrepo(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-744

Lisa Dawel

E-Mail: lisa.dawel(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-745

H

Theresa Hilger

E-Mail: theresa.hilger(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-463, Room: I6-U01

L

Mathias Lanezki

E-Mail: mathias.lanezki(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-245, Room: I6-O05

Ekaterina Lesnyak

E-Mail: ekaterina.lesnyak(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-750, Room: I6-O04

P

Dr. Ing. Alexandra Pehlken

E-Mail: alexandra.pehlken(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-712, Room: O90

Leonora Posega

E-Mail: leonora.posega(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-286, Room: O80

S

Sebastian Specht

E-Mail: sebastian.specht(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-700, Room: U31

W

Steffen Wehkamp

E-Mail: steffen.wehkamp(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-179, Room: I6-O09

Y

Tong Yu

E-Mail: tong.yu(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-272

EN: Alle Personen aus dem Competence Cluster Sustainability

Projects

A

AI-Delta Learning

AI-Delta Learning

Duration: 2020 - 2022

AVKVIN

Abfallverbrennungskessel 4.0 - Digitalisierung und ganzheitliche Betriebscharakterisierung von Dampferzeugern in Abfallverbrennungskraftwerken

Duration: 2020 - 2023

C

CHARE-GD I SP1

Cross-border Health Data Compass as Basis for Comparative Studies (CHDC, SP1) | Teilprojekt von: Comparison of healthcare structures, processes and outcomes in the Northern German and Dutch cross-border region. (Phase I. CHARE-GD I)

Duration: 2021 - 2024

CIRC-UITS

Circular Integration of independent Reverse supply Chains for the smart reUse of IndusTrially relevant Semiconductors

Duration: 2023 - 2025

D

DigiSchwein

Cross innovation and digitalization in animal-friendly pig husbandry under consideration of resource protection

Duration: 2020 - 2024

E

EDNA

Edge Datenwirtschaft in der nachhaltigen automatisierten Fertigungswirtschaft

Duration: 2022 - 2025

ENaQ

Energetisches Nachbarschaftsquartier Fliegerhorst Oldenburg (sorry - only available in german)

Duration: 2018 - 2023

ENSURE Phase 2

Neue EnergieNetzStruktURen für die Energiewende (Phase 2)

Duration: 2020 - 2023

ERIGrid 2.0

European Research Infrastructure supporting Smart Grid Systems Technology Development, Validation and Roll Out

Duration: 2020 - 2024

F

Future Laboratory Society and Work

Duration: 2020 - 2024

EN: Alle Projekte aus dem Competence Cluster Sustainability

Publications

2022

A Cartography of the Effects of Disclosure Control on Small-scale Population Grids in the Context of Municipal Data Requirements in Northwest Germany.

Specht, Sebastian; 30th Annual Geographical Information Science Research UK (GISRUK), Liverpool, United Kingdom, 5th - 8th April 2022; 2022

URL DOI BIB
An Electricity Market Categorization Based on Morphological Analysis for Smart Grid Development

Rebeca Ramirez Acosta; Sebastian Lehnhoff; Jorge Marx Gomez; 18th International Conference on European Electricity Market, (EEM); 2022

URL DOI BIB
An Open Source Grid Observer for the Analysis of Power Flexibilities in Low Voltage Distribution Grid Simulations

Fayed, S. and Penaherrera, Fernando and Wagner, Henrik and Rolink, Johannes; 2022 (10th) International Conference on Smart Grid and Clean Energy Technologies; 2022

BIB
Co-Simulation-Based Analysis of the Grid Capacity for Electric Vehicles in Districts: The Case of Ölper Bergein Lower Saxony

Wagner, Henrik and Penaherrera, Fernando and Eckhoff, S. and Breitner, Michael H.; E-Mobility Power System Integration Symposium; 2022

BIB
Designing a Cross-Border Health Atlas through Immersion in Health Services Research

Specht, Sebastian; Abstracts of the ICA; 2022

URL DOI BIB
Digitale Nachhaltigkeit im Nordwesten

Ekwaro-Osire, Henry; Pehlken, Alexandra; Mittelstand-Digital Magazin Wissenschaft trifft Praxis - Sonderausgabe Nachhaltigkeit; Mai / 2022

PDF BIB
Quantifying the Environmental Impacts of Battery Electric Vehicles from a Criticality Perspective

Penaherrera, Fernando; Davila, Maria; Pehlken, Alexandra; Koch, Björn; Juni / 2022

BIB
Stadt, Land, Gesundheitsversorgung

Specht, Sebastian and Schnack, Helge; Gis.Business; 2022

BIB
Untersuchung der Lage-Typisierung von Krankenhäusern durch Zonen potenzieller Erreichbarkeit

Specht, Sebastian and Schnack, Helge and Krauskopf, Jan Elmar and Hein, Andreas; AGIT Journal für Angewandte Geoinformatik; 2022

URL DOI BIB

2021

AI enabled bio waste contamination-scanner

Stahl, F. , Ferdinand, O., Nolle, L., Pehlken, A. and Zielinski, O.; 41. SGAI International Conference on Artificial Intelligence; 12 / 2021

URL BIB
EN: Alle Publikationen aus dem Competence Cluster Sustainability
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