Innovations: chances for improving the efficiency of operation and maintenance

摘要

In recent years, the gas industry has attracted widespread attention in discussions about how to achieve climateprotectionntargets and reduce pollutant emissions. This has been due not only to the fact that natural gas is the mostnenvironmentally-friendly fossil fuel, but first and foremost to its innovative strength in the area of gas appliancendevelopment and in renewable-energy production (biomethane). The use of condensing appliances in combination withnsolar technology or geothermal systems, the field trials of micro-CHP units developed for domestic use, and the researchnon fuel cells span what is a very diverse range of technologies from the environmentally-friendly systems alreadynavailable today to next-generation appliances. In this process, the uninterrupted availability of the infrastructure needednfor the transmission and distribution of natural gas is taken for granted, and the technologies themselves only play ansecondary role in the public debate and even appear rather static at first glance.