The energy industry is under tremendous time pressure: carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced quickly. Bilfinger Berger is researching important advances in environmentally-friendly technologies.
Text: Claudia Sigel, Photos: Fritz Stark
There is an exciting competition going on all around the world: engineers are working frantically on all fronts to find the most effective technologies possible for the reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions in the energy industry. The quicker a solution is ready for market launch, the bigger the chances that it will be implemented in the renewal phase currently underway in the global power plant pool.
The companies gathered together under the umbrella of Bilfinger Berger Power Services are working on a number of research projects aimed at reducing emissions from conventional energy production. The energy industry is the source of about 45% of all carbon dioxide emissions generated in Germany. The most carbon dioxide is of course generated by the burning of coal, but coal will remain an essential worldwide source of energy for the foreseeable future. The reason: coal is relatively cheap and reserves will last significantly longer than all other fossil fuels.
This means that every improvement in the efficiency of energy production from coal will, both in the short and long terms, lead to noticeable reductions in global emissions.