Institute for Energy Economics and Rational Energy Use (IER)

The aim of the work at IER is to investigate the design of a sustainable energy system with its subsystems electricity, heating/cooling and mobility. For this purpose, a variety of analytical tools such as energy system and energy market models, or life cycle or life cycle costing analyses (LCA/LCC) are developed and applied. The investigation of energetic biomass use and bioeconomy with its integration into the overall energy system is a focus in this context. Participation in the ValBio project is of particular interest to IER because, in view of the limited availabilits of biomass, cascade use (food/feed, material, energy) becomes considerably more important and henc, the Institute's focal points for holistic analysis in the combination of a material and energetic use of biomass can be worked on in an interdisciplinary manner with the partner institutes.