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" Developing economic well-being and preserving a healthy environment are not opposed forces but do, on the contrary, have a primary relationship and require a similar life-cycle-thinking. Maximizing the efficiency of a product over its life cycle will minimize its total financial cost as well as the total environmental impact over its life cycle, according to a new report 'Evaluating environmental performance in low-carbon energy systems' by PE International for European Copper Institute. © Aania The report presents case studies which were developed to substantiate this life-cycle-thinking by delivering high level messages supporting decision making on the sustainable energy arena. The case studies provide results for several realistic - future and present - situations in regard to different scenarios and boundary conditions for energy systems. The aim is to define a common denominator that can be used as a starting point for further developments and discussions. To complement the decision-making landscape, future scenarios are also modelled - not as straight jacket by as a means to assess the influence of various trends or decisions. Choice of power grid mix - a case The case study 1, among the seven case studies, was constructed with the intention of assessing how the choice of power grid mix influences the environmental impact of producing electricity. Electric power can be produced from various renewable and non-renewable resources, and the technologies to harvest renewable resources are gaining momentum, together with the global pressure to increase their contribution to energy provision. In the EU targets have been set for 2020 to generate 20 percent of the total energy demand from renewable resources. National schemes have been set up to reach this overall goal, stricter for the more advanced and economically stable nations and laxer for the economically more disadvantaged ones. Although the target is very demanding, the potential benefits ar

"Die Auswahl von elektrischen Leiterstoffen ist sehr beschränkt. Obwohl Kupfer in letzter Zeit enorm teuer geworden ist, bestehen kaum Alternativen dazu. Aluminium ist ein Leichtmetall mit einer recht guten Leiterfähigkeit. Es erreicht Platz vier der am besten leitenden Metalle. In der Elektrotechnik lässt es sich aber nur sehr beschränkt anwenden, weil dafür die so genannte Stromdichte gesenkt werden und der Leiter selbst dicker ausfallen muss. Der Beitrag von Stefan Fassbinder zeigt, was es beim Einsatz von Leiterwerkstoffen sonst noch alles zu bedenken gilt. "