Petra Wächter

Erfolgsversprechende Demand-Response-Empfehlungen im Energieversorgungssystem 2020

ZusammenfassungAutomatisiertes Lastmanagement hat das Potenzial, in einem zukünftigen, mit Kommunikationsinfrastruktur ausgestattetem Stromnetz durch Verschiebung von elektrischen Lasten trotz einer hohen Dichte an erneuerbarer Erzeugung die Leistungsbalance zu gewährleisten. Dieses Paper stellt eine systematische Herangehensweise vor, die eine umfassende Bewertung und Weiterentwicklung von Lastmanagement-Szenarien ermöglicht. Es wird ein neuer Ansatz zur Integration der Entwicklung und Bewertung solcher Szenarien vorgestellt und vier erfolgsversprechende Modelle von Komponenten zukünftiger elektrischer Energieversorgungssysteme eingehender analysiert. Das Problem fehlender Umsetzungen wird anhand dieser Szenarien beispielhaft für Österreich durch eine interdisziplinäre Betrachtung des Phänomens Lastmanagement hinsichtlich technischer, sozialer, ökonomischer und ökologischer Aspekte untersucht. Ergebnis dieser Betrachtung sind neben Analyseergebnissen eine Bewertung der Szenarien und die daraus gewonnenen Empfehlungen für neue Rahmensetzer und die Forschungsförderung.

Transitions to sustainable development – new directions in the study of long term transformative change

it is understandable that accessibility has remained the overall priority. In summary, Pilkey and Pilkey have produced an excellent book that can be recommended to anyone interested in or concerned about climate change and the politicisation of science which is accompanying the phenomenon. With the final chapter dismissing potential geoengineering methods such as solar radiation management as more of a sign of desperation than an easy solution, it is clear that the authors believe that there will be no quick answers to the problem. As such, Global Climate Change: A Primer not only serves as an outstanding introduction to climate science, it is also a manifesto for action – or at least a request for the tacit support of action – directed towards the ‘undecideds’ who have been the target of so much misinformation from the anti-climate change lobby.

World on the edge – how to prevent environmental and economic collapse

conclude that eco-capitalism is hopeless. But it is much more difficult to provide feasible alternatives. The authors in this volume go some way towards developing an account of some possible eco-socialist alternatives. It is a pioneering work of the young enterprise of eco-socialism. It should be read by those interested in socialism, Marxism, environmental politics in general and those examining the capacity for ecological modernisation of non-Western and newly democratised societies.

The ecological rift – capitalism's war on the Earth

animal protection theorist, for too long to be easily swayed by the arguments Francione and Garner put forward in this book, it would seem that I am in good company. Neither Francione nor Garner appears to change their own perspective in response to the other’s argument. Indeed, reading their positions side-by-side made me wonder whether the apparent chasm between the two was at least partly disciplinary. Both authors are at pains to clarify that it is nothing personal. You are not a bad person, just intellectually confused, if you side with the other. Yet when I read Garner’s ‘it is important to distinguish here between what is prescribed by ethics and what is achievable politically or strategically’ (p. 105), I immediately feel as though he is speaking my language. I find Garner’s way of conceptualising animal protection to be politically astute. Is that surprising given that he and I are both political scientists? This book is an important contribution and a ‘must read’ for anyone working in the field. The Animal Rights Debate offers a highly instructive, compact, accessible overview of both sides of the welfare versus rights debate. From this point forward The Animal Rights Debate will by my first port-of-call when required to make reference to the welfare/rights discussion. I will also use the book extensively as a teaching resource. It will be recommend to my students who, if they are interested in animal protection scholarship, will invariably be struggling with the very question Francione and Garner set out to answer: how do we best respond to the suffering and death experienced by nonhuman animals at the hands of humans?