Erdgas, Braunkohle und Steinkohle in der Nachhaltigkeitsbetrachtung

摘要

Germany has made major changes in its energy policies in the recent years as part of the "Energiewende "-the decision to abandon nuclear power and to reduce CO2 emissions significantly until 2030 as its two most important features. As the fossil fuels lignite, hard coal and natural gas can currently be considered the backbone of German power generation, the question of how to evaluate these three fuels under the recent policies - and their respective ("positive" and "negative") implications鈥攁rises. Thus, the research project presented in this article aimed at evaluating the implications of the use of lignite, hard coal and natural gas against the background of the Sustainable Development discussion. The assessment based on an extended life cycle inventory analysis similar to the classic LCA approach. The results of the study show that the three primary energy carriers have significant differences concerning their Sustainable Development implications.