- With the IKU, BDI and BMU honour the innovative industry's contributions to climate and environmental protection
- Award ceremony on 26 March 2020 in Berlin
For the seventh time, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) are awarding the coveted German Innovation Prize for Climate and Environment (IKU) for the seventh time with prize money totalling 175,000 euros. 132 companies, eight research institutions and one public authority competed for the prizes with their products and services. 22 of them have now been nominated for the IKU. The award ceremony will take place on 26 March 2020 in Berlin.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "The diversity of the applications shows that numerous companies want to and can use their technical and creative potential for environmental and climate protection and the conservation of biological diversity.
BDI President Dieter Kempf: "The IKU honours the innovative strength of German companies and initiatives. They are problem solvers for climate and environmental protection".
The high-ranking jury headed by Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer (Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK) has now nominated 22 innovations from the total of 141 applications submitted for the following seven IKU categories.
Process innovations for climate protection
Product and service innovations for climate protection
Environmentally friendly technologies
Environmentally friendly products and services
Innovations and biodiversity
Use of digital change for climate and environmentally friendly innovations
Climate and environmental protection technology transfer to developing and newly industrializing countries and Eastern European states
The jury's decision was based on the scientific evaluation of the applications by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI.
The IKU is funded by the National Climate Protection Initiative (NKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment.
The following nominees now have the chance to receive an award at the festive awards ceremony on March 26, 2020 in Berlin.
- Aurubis AG (Hamburg) is converting its sulphuric acid process and coupling out almost CO₂ free industrial heat, which is used to supply district heating to a new district - and thus avoids the emission of 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
- Bahnlog GmbH (St. Ingbert) integrated measures for biotope and species protection into the company's daily operations, thus demonstrating the potential that a company site can offer for supporting local biodiversity.
- Delicious Data GmbH (Garching near Munich) has developed a web application to forecast the number of meals required for canteens, canteens and restaurants. The software tool supports the planning of the caterers in order to reduce the amount of goods and food waste in the companies.
- The Eisenmann Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG (Holzgerlingen) developed a sustainable painting plant concept in which car bodies are no longer moved on uneconomical, heavy skids, but instead, with the new modular "VarioLoc" system, the entire painting and drying process is carried out without skids. In combination with a smart oven concept, the energy savings in the drying process amount to up to 37 percent annually.
- Epta Deutschland GmbH (Mannheim) developed the patented FTE (full transcitical efficiency) system to increase energy efficiency in commercial CO₂ refrigeration plants.
This technology can be used in refrigeration systems that supply not only normal refrigeration points but also deep-freeze points (for example in food retailing).
- e-troFit GmbH (Ingolstadt) developed an all-in-one service solution for converting buses and other commercial vehicles to electric drive. For city buses e-troFit analyses the route and, based on this, develops a charging concept and a suitable design of the electric drive train including battery size.
- Gerotor GmbH (Puchheim) further developed the principle of the flywheel mass storage system based on the latest technology including artificial intelligence into an innovative high-performance storage system.
- The Gründach Westerwald GmbH & Co. KG (Kölbingen) has further developed the concept of green roofs under the aspects of regionality and biodiversity. The regionally adapted design not only creates new habitats on sealed surfaces, but also integrates them sensibly into the surrounding biotope landscape.
- With TEKLa (Treibhausgas-Emissions-Kalkulator-Landwirtschaft), the Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony (Oldenburg) has created a calculation tool that proposes measures for CO₂ savings on the basis of a nationwide standard for climate balances. On average, TEKLa enables savings of 50 tons CO₂ per year on an agricultural enterprise.
- The Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG (Schelklingen) produces smart water meters in its intelligently networked factory, for which 100 percent reuse is guaranteed over at least two product life cycles. This reduces the energy and resource consumption and enables a real recycling economy.
- The IoT web platform of Mondas GmbH (Freiburg) is used to control, analyse and monitor decentralised energy systems, for example combined heat and power plants or local heating networks. A special feature of the tool is the analysis of time series data, so that critical operating states can be detected even before an incident occurs. In a reference project it was determined that plant efficiencies can be increased by up to 25 percent as a result.
- The photovoltaic systems of Next2Sun GmbH (Merzig) are installed vertically in an east-west orientation and use photovoltaic modules that use light at the front and back. This compensates for peak loads and reduces the use of land for the benefit of agriculture and nature conservation.
- Behind the Insect Respect seal of quality of Reckhaus GmbH & Co. KG (Bielefeld) stands for a holistic and scientifically based concept of how to inform about the value of insects, the decline in insect diversity and one's own scope of action when buying insect repellents.
- sonnen GmbH (Wildpoldsried) provides primary control power by digitally networking thousands of home storage units to form a virtual power plant.
- Sulfotools GmbH (Darmstadt) makes Clean Peptide Technology (CPT) ready for the market. In this process for peptide production, water-soluble protective groups are used so that toxic organic solvents can be dispensed with.
- The state energy agencies of Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have jointly developed the interactive portal Kom.EMS, which supports municipal administrations in introducing, improving and consolidating their energy management and thus enables savings of 15 percent through non-investment measures.
- The MDT-300 micro steam turbine from Turbonik GmbH (Dortmund) has an extremely high speed compared to conventional small steam turbines. This makes it much more compact, up to 40% more efficient and weighs less than half as much as conventional turbines in its power class up to 300 kW electrical. In continuous operation, a micro steam turbine can supply up to 500 four-person households with electricity and save over 600 tons CO₂ per year.
- ÜZ Mainfranken, the partner for green energy and digital progress between the Main and Steigerwald rivers, develops the natural resource of geothermal energy for new development areas in an all-round carefree package. Combined with a heat pump, the result is a sustainable and completely CO₂ free heating and cooling system. With this award-winning concept, building owners and local authorities are making a sustainable contribution to the energy turnaround.
- The vilisto GmbH (Hamburg) offers a digital and self-learning heat management system for non-residential buildings. For this purpose the radiator thermostats "ovis" are used, which have an integrated presence detection.
- watttron GmbH (Freital) developed cera2heat(R), a new heating system for thermoforming processes; e.g. for the production of packaging such as yoghurt cups. This system can save 30 percent and more of plastic and heating energy.
- Werner & Mertz GmbH (Mainz) developed the world's first completely recyclable stand-up pouch for liquid filling goods. The bag is made of 100 percent polyethylene (including pouring opening and lid) and thus enables complete material recycling.
- Wieland-Werke AG (Vöhringen) changed its pickling process for copper products by using a hydrogen peroxide pickling process which reduces NOx and waste water emissions and achieves major economic benefits.
