“The Association of Friends of TU Dortmund University communicates in between the university and its economic, political, and cultural environment. For many years, we have likewise functioned as a significant pillar of funding for important TU jobs,” stressed GdF chairperson Guido Baranowski at the IBZ. As a signed up not-for-profit association, the Association of Friends supported a wide range of activities at TU Dortmund University with around EUR80,000 last year: it preserves the Helmut-Keunecke-Haus as lodging for worldwide guests, funds scholarships in the “Deutschlandstipendium” program and awards for trainees, sponsors the Summer Festival and the Academic Anniversary Event, and supports public conferences, exhibits, and performances at the university. Student initiatives, such as the GET racing team, likewise get support from the GdF.
The substantial support of the Association of Buddies is enabled by the yearly EUR40 membership fee from almost 500 members along with by generous individual contributions. Guido Baranowski encouraged all members to recruit new supporters for the GdF. TU President Professor Manfred Bayer warmly thanked the GdF members for their commitment and reported on developments at TU Dortmund University, for instance in the locations of study support, internationalization, and transfer, in addition to in the Excellence Technique of the federal and state governments.
Board elections and a scientific lecture
In the board election, the Association of Friends’ members validated the previous board and elected as new board members: Celine Carstensen-Opitz (VOLKSWOHL BUND Versicherungen), Jörg Jacoby (DSW21 Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG), Ulrich Leitermann (Signal Iduna Group), and Simone Schulz (Boehringer Ingelheim microParts GmbH). Stepping down from the board were Axel-Rainer Hoffmann, Dr. Anton Mindl, and Reinhold Schulte. Guido Baranowski thanked them for their several years of dedication. The new board chose Guido Baranowski as its chairperson, Johann Jaeger as deputy chairperson, and Wulf-Christian Ehrich, Deputy President of the Dortmund Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as handling board member.
Professor Lars-Peter Lauven from the Chair of Resources and Energy Systems in the Department of Spatial Planning provided insights into his research study at the assembly and discussed current challenges in preparing energy networks. While the share of renewable energy in the power sector wass currently rather high, the heat sector was a “sleeping giant,” Prof. Lauven stated. Nevertheless, for the success of the energy shift it would be absolutely needed to change oil and natural gas heater with district heating, regional heating or heat pumps. To this end, the heat and electricity networks had to be substantially expanded, he stated. Towns were for that reason examining, which districts are suitable for connection to regional and district heating networks. Professor Lauven described that fast action was necessary, since the more buildings are energetically renovated and changed to heatpump in the meantime, which normally is to be invited, the more wasteful the growth of heat networks would become for municipalities. In addition, existing gas grids were to be used to transport hydrogen instead of gas in the future, he reported, with analyses revealing that hydrogen would likely only be used in a minimal variety of application locations. At the very same time, electrical energy grid operators were planning the expansion of their networks in order to fulfill the increasing demands from the ever-growing share of renewable energies, heatpump and e-mobility. In his lecture, Teacher Lauven pointed out that the particular actors were currently far from the perfect of integrated and cross-sectoral network preparation, as there was frequently still a lack of ways and approaches to effectively connect the various energy sectors.