The German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community – Successes and Failures
-
Weert Canzler
Weert Canzler (born in 1960 in Hage, Germany) is a Political Scientist with a PhD in Sociology. He is the co-founder of the ‘Mobility Research Group’ at Science Center Berlin (WZB). His main research fields are innovation and future studies, automobilism and transport policy, and infrastructure policy. His most recently completed research projects are: ‘Cash Car: The Private Automobile's Change in Meaning to a Core Module of an Integrated Transport System’, ‘Specifications for Sustainable Public Transport’ and ‘Effects of Demographic Change and of Development of Economic Structure on Infrastructure and Transportation Markets’.
,
Ante Galich
Ante Galich (born in 1984, Paderborn, Germany) is a Doctoral Candidate in Political Science at the University of Luxemburg since March 2011. He is doing his PhD at the intersection of Public Policy and Science and Technology Studies with an empirical focus on the development of alternative energy technologies in the European Union. His main research interests include energy, environmental and research policy as well as sustainable development. He is a sociologist by training and holds a Diploma from the University of Bielefeld with a minor in macro economics.Lutz Marz was born in Berlin in 1951 and studied mathematics and physics at the Humboldt University. He holds a doctorate in economics and worked for twelve years in the cable industry, particular in production planning and production management. From 1990 to 2012, he was a researcher at the Social Science Centre Berlin, where he is currently a visiting scientist. His research focuses on mobility research, innovation dynamics and alternative drive systems in the automotive industry. He worked in various interdisciplinary research projects.
Abstract
Recently, the German Federal Government made the consequential decision to change its energy program. This not only as a result of the decision to shut down the existing nuclear power plants within the next few years, but also due to vital challenges like climate change and security of energy supply. The shift in the energy-technology paradigm from fossil fuel technologies to regenerative energies constitutes a major technical process but also new economic and social constellations.
This paper focuses on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in Germany. The institutional set up in this field is analysed and the new organizational actors are identified who have actively lobbied towards a political consensus. However, the experts in this field could not attain the required leadership in the public discourse on these technologies. It seems that an attractive guiding vision of a post-fossil energy future and a broad acceptance in daily use would have been major prerequisites for such leadership.
About the authors
Weert Canzler (born in 1960 in Hage, Germany) is a Political Scientist with a PhD in Sociology. He is the co-founder of the ‘Mobility Research Group’ at Science Center Berlin (WZB). His main research fields are innovation and future studies, automobilism and transport policy, and infrastructure policy. His most recently completed research projects are: ‘Cash Car: The Private Automobile's Change in Meaning to a Core Module of an Integrated Transport System’, ‘Specifications for Sustainable Public Transport’ and ‘Effects of Demographic Change and of Development of Economic Structure on Infrastructure and Transportation Markets’.
Ante Galich (born in 1984, Paderborn, Germany) is a Doctoral Candidate in Political Science at the University of Luxemburg since March 2011. He is doing his PhD at the intersection of Public Policy and Science and Technology Studies with an empirical focus on the development of alternative energy technologies in the European Union. His main research interests include energy, environmental and research policy as well as sustainable development. He is a sociologist by training and holds a Diploma from the University of Bielefeld with a minor in macro economics.
Lutz Marz was born in Berlin in 1951 and studied mathematics and physics at the Humboldt University. He holds a doctorate in economics and worked for twelve years in the cable industry, particular in production planning and production management. From 1990 to 2012, he was a researcher at the Social Science Centre Berlin, where he is currently a visiting scientist. His research focuses on mobility research, innovation dynamics and alternative drive systems in the automotive industry. He worked in various interdisciplinary research projects.
©[2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Short Reports
- The German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community – Successes and Failures
- Modelling and Simulation of Double Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell: Cell Voltage, Power Density and Temperature Variation with Process Parameters
- Raceways-based Production of Algal Crude Oil
- Future Conferences on Sustainable Energy Science and Policy 2013
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Short Reports
- The German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community – Successes and Failures
- Modelling and Simulation of Double Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell: Cell Voltage, Power Density and Temperature Variation with Process Parameters
- Raceways-based Production of Algal Crude Oil
- Future Conferences on Sustainable Energy Science and Policy 2013
