30.04.2014 11:46
Dipl.-Social scientist Heidi Müller-Henicz Press and Public Relations
Hanse Institute for Advanced Study
Cobalt and gallium or neodymium and dysprosium, among other things, these precious, sometimes very rare elements are found in our cars - today and certainly in the electric cars of the future. Only where, in which components, material groups and quantities? How can they be identified and regained at the end of their car life for further use in the economic cycle? These are just a few of the questions that experts from around the world have come to expect from 16. to 18. June 2014 during the workshop "Electro Mobility: Assessing the Shift from Energy Efficiency to Material Efficiency in the Automotive Life Cycle" at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst.
"In this field, there are still many ecological and economic potentials to tap"
"Vehicle development and production currently focus on energy efficiency and energy sources, but in the future industry will have to deal much more intensively with the use of new, sometimes scarce and environmentally problematical materials and life-cycle management," says workshop initiator Dr .-Ing. Alexandra Pehlken. She is a scientist at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg and Associate Junior Fellow of the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg.
In the future, cars will be powered by other drives, such as electric motors, and will always be safer, more economical and smarter. Therefore, they contain more and more electrical and electronic components such as motors, sensors, on-board computers or batteries, and thus also a growing proportion of new materials and material combinations. Many of the raw materials used for this purpose are scarce, precious and difficult to obtain and with a great burden on the environment. Some of these are rare earth elements, most of them are classified as strategic raw materials, and for all: Sustainable, economic action requires the best possible reuse and reuse of these substances.
"In this field, there are still many environmental and economic potentials to tap," says Pehlken. "Most of the time, however, we still lack information about the amount and use of these materials, as well as about the technologies to reprocess and reuse them." The workshop focuses on exactly this issue. Topics covered include design, manufacturing, use, maintenance, product lifecycle management, technology and business, strategic and policy options.
Internationally sought-after experts from research and industry are available to answer questions
The workshop will be held by the Metropolregion Bremen-Oldenburg in the northwest e. V., the Fonds der chemischen Industrie (FCI) and the Universitätsgesellschaft Oldenburg eV (UGO). Alexandra Pehlken and Wolfgang Stenzel from the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) were able to win well-known colleagues and internationally renowned speakers. They come from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada and China and provide insights into current research on this globally-discussed future topic.
Co-organizer of the workshop and one of the speakers is Prof. Dr. med. Steven Young from the University of Waterloo (Canada). His research interests include sustainable materials management, life-cycle analyzes and industrial supply chains.
With the British geo-scientist for minerals and waste materials Prof. Dr. Andrew Bloodworth from the British Geological Survey is another luminary. It was only in January of this year that he published a highly regarded article in the international science magazine “Nature” on this subject. His “Critical Metals Handbook” from February is currently not only hotly debated in the specialist scene. Sold out very quickly, it is currently being reissued. Bloodworth is the keynote speaker for the event and is also available for discussion.
Also Mathias Brucke, Clustermanager of Automotive Nordwest e. V. is involved. The network bundles interests of the automotive sector in northwest Germany and is a cooperation partner of the event. "Electric mobility and energy efficiency have many dimensions," says Brucke. It is not just about fuel consumption. "If we consider that today a car consists of almost 40 percent of electronic components, the importance of the recyclables it contains for sustainability becomes clear," he says. Using it responsibly and using it with the help of state-of-the-art technology and, for example, adequate product lifecycle management, will surely be part of the success of automotive manufacturers in the future, "says the automotive expert.
Information about the program and registration:
Dr.-Ing. Alexandra Pehlken (University of Oldenburg)
Email: ppgad@pucrs.br, Phone: +49 441 798-47 96
Wolfgang Stenzel (Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg)
Email: ppgad@pucrs.br, Tel .: +49 4221 9160-103
More information about cycling in the Leipzig Region as well as more interesting routes:
http://www.h-w-k.de/veranstaltungen/tagungen
Source: https://www.idw-online.de/de/news584430
