Two personalities from business and science will be with the this year German Environmental Prize honored by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU): peat researcher Dr. Franziska Tanneberger (46) from Greifswald and electrical engineer Thomas Speidel (57) from Nürtingen near Stuttgart share the prize worth a total of 500,000 euros. It is one of the most highly endowed environmental awards in Europe and is awarded annually by the DBU, for the 32nd time in 2024. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present the prize on October 27th in Mainz.
- This text is part of the DBU environmental prize package. The manuscripts include individual recognitions of the winners, a summary and two features, as well as original sounds and a radio report with DBU General Secretary Alexander Bonde, Dr. Franziska Tanneberger and Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Speidel. Links to the original sounds are at the foot of the websites with the press releases – everything is below www.dbu.de/news/.
Strategic foresight and in rubber boots with farmers
“Thomas Speidel is characterized by innovative strength, strategic foresight and economic daring,” says DBU General Secretary Alexander Valley. “It is a pioneer for climate-friendly electromobility.” According to Bonde, moor researcher Tanneberger “is also developing usage perspectives together with farmers in rubber boots. For her, moor protection and moor use are not a contradiction. She is committed to sustainable use of wet moors.”
“Like a Swiss army knife of the energy transition”
The father of three, Thomas Speidel, is the managing director of the ads-tec Energy innovative battery-buffered high-performance systems that function as a multi-tool “like a Swiss army knife of the energy transition” (Speidel). They make it possible to recharge your batteries within minutes instead of hours. One motivation: the rapid, comprehensive expansion of the currently relatively manageable charging infrastructure – a prerequisite for environmentally friendly e-mobility to achieve greater acceptance and thus reduce emissions of climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2) through the optimal use of renewable energies. Making the cheaper overall costs of electromobility tangible for everyone will make a decisive contribution to success and in the European Union (EU) will solve the ban on combustion engines planned for new registrations from 2035, says Speidel. Germany also has ambitious targets: the registration of 15 million electric vehicles nationwide by 2030 and the installation of one million public charging points – in both cases an increase of almost tenfold. In addition, there is the Climate Protection Act, according to which Germany wants to be climate neutral by 2045, i.e. not to emit more greenhouse gases than can be captured. In short: E-mobility is a crucial lever for transport and climate protection goals.
Battery storage systems for quick charging of electric vehicles based on the principle of a toilet cistern
According to Speidel, the battery-backed fast chargers can be installed flexibly on streets, company buildings, in residential areas without garages or wall boxes, as well as in urban areas and remote locations. There are two models: ChargeBox as well as ChargePost– the latter as tall as a man, both weighing around three tons each and equipped with two quick-charging points each. The storage systems with integrated lithium-ion batteries slowly draw electricity from the existing power grid, store it and convert the alternating current from the grid into direct current, which can be used for charging with an output of 320 kilowatts. If an electric vehicle is docked, it can be refueled with electricity within minutes using a surge from the storage reserves. Speidel: “Like a toilet cistern that fills slowly and empties quickly when in use.” Added: ChargeBox and ChargePost are – in addition to quick charging – multi-tools. Using their battery storage systems, they secure locally generated solar energy, stabilize the network – and avoid electricity bottlenecks wherever there is a problem with network expansion.
Driving force in the revitalization and rewetting of moors
Climate neutrality in Germany by 2045 and in the EU by 2050 also plays a significant role in Franziska Tanneberger’s work. Your trump card: The moors are the best allies when it comes to climate protection. The internationally renowned moor researcher is therefore considered a driving force in the revitalization and rewetting of moors and a bridge builder between science, politics and agriculture. Whether on World climate conferencesat the World Biodiversity Council or in EU agricultural policy: Tanneberger takes every opportunity to praise moors as veritable climate and biodiversity protectors: “Natural and wet moors remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then store this carbon, which makes them really good helpers in climate protection.” And they are all-rounders: they are carbon sinks, water reservoirs and a guarantee for diversity of life.
Moor protection goes hand in hand with agriculture
However, there is a powerful challenge: in Germany alone, according to Tanneberger, more than 90 percent of the moors have been drained – and climate-damaging greenhouse gases (GHG) are escaping from them. “Nationwide, dry moors cause seven percent of GHG emissions. And what I find very sad: they are responsible for a major loss of species diversity and biodiversity,” said the moor researcher. “We have to rewet moors.” With her research, she shows how this can go hand in hand with agriculture. Examples include the pipe roofs on houses in northern Germany, the use of litter in Bavaria and also innovative, great new building and insulation materials.” Not to be forgotten: the great added value for biodiversity on rewetted areas.
First global peatland status report and portfolio with more than 60 patents
Both personalities are “real practical pioneers who, with outstanding commitment, advance environmental and biodiversity protection, but also climate protection through technological progress,” said DBU General Secretary Alexander Bonde. The mother of two Tanneberger, author and co-director of the Greifswald Moor Center, played a key role in Global Peatland Assessment contributed to the first global peatland status report. And Thomas Speidel, President of the since 2016 Federal Association for Energy Storage Systems and is involved in two co-founded foundations, has more than 60 German and international patent applications in his portfolio, including for battery technology and storage solutions.
Data, figures, facts, background information and reports in the DBU Environmental Prize blog: https://www.dbu.de/umweltpreis/umweltpreis-blog/