On 5 May 2023, the Institute hosted the 9th Max.P Salon. Robert Schlögl, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, spoke to members of the Max Planck Foundation about the chances and challenges of regenerative energies, making an impassioned plea for rapid, large-scale action to reduce CO2 emissions.
On green electrons and green molecules
How can we successfully shape the transition from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, to renewable energies such as solar energy, wind energy, and hydrogen?
The triumph of renewable energies seems unstoppable. The generation of electricity by solar energy, wind energy and hydropower has great potential, but the energy yield fluctuates and storage technologies have only limited capacities. Even if we have 100% green power, we still rely on material energy sources for about 80% of our needs. What is therefore necessary, is a second mainstay for the energy system of the future in the form of a C02-neutral molecular energy carrier - for which only hydrogen comes into question. Prof. Schlögl spoke at the 9th MAX.P Salon to supporters of the Max Planck Society on how the appropriate technologies can be developed and the necessary hydrogen partnerships forged, and whether hydrogen can then be exclusively green or also blue or turquoise.
The chemist Robert Schlögl has been the new President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation since 1 January 2023, and is Director Emeritus at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, and at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr. He is an internationally renowned and excellently networked scientist with a research focus on energy conversion processes and has been honored with numerous awards, including the Eni Award in Energy Transition, which is referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Energy”.
He emphasized that no single country can solve the global challenge: Self-sufficiency is a dangerous delusion, so is sufficiency. Global technologies and markets are the only viable way – realized with large amounts of stored energy: hydrogen is vast. The new steady state of the planet is terra incognita. Therefore, we must reduce CO2 emissions as quickly as possible on a large scale, not with small and difficult measures.
The Max.P Salon is a Salon of Science founded in 2020 by members of the Board of Trustees of the Max Planck Foundation. The Max Planck Foundation, established in 2006, is a private and non-profit funding association that exclusively supports the Max Planck Society and its institutes, and makes its funds available for excellent, innovative and pioneering projects and research endeavors. It is one of the largest science-funding foundations in Germany.
Video (in German) with photo impressions from the event on Youtube