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Exclusive Interview with Jürgen Köhler |
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R744.com had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Prof. Dr. Jürgen Köhler, Director of the Institute for Thermodynamics / University of Braunschweig and one of the winners of the German Environmental Award 2007, after the ceremony took place in Aachen, Germany, on 28 October.
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2007-10-28
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R744: Would you have ever imagined that you would get this important prize at the beginning of developments with CO2?
Köhler: Of course not. As a matter of fact, I have been working in this area of alternatives, natural substances for refrigeration, for more than 20 years. I started in the mid-80’s, looking for an ozone-friendly alternative. Together with my team, I found R134a which was ozone-safe but which was only an intermediate solution because of its high Global Warming Potential. We continued looking for sustainable solutions that would not harm the atmosphere, neither destroy the ozone layer nor enhance the greenhouse effect. In the early 90’s we, at Konvekta, screened all possible solutions and different systems to achieve sustainable refrigeration and finally we found CO2. At that time we came to the result that CO2 would be the global sustainable solution and ever since then we have been working on this to achieve a solution that can be mass-produced and could really be THE solution for the future. After my move to the Technical University of Braunschweig I am continuing this work with research projects especially together with Konvekta.
R744: A previous winner of this prize, for the work on non ozone depleting solutions, has managed to get the Nobel Prize afterwards. How do you think this Award is going to help developments and possible commercialization of CO2 systems in different applications?
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Köhler: I think the Prize will give the CO2 Community a boost to achieve its final aim: the mass production of CO2-based systems. This is still not the case and there are some hurdles to overcome in the near future. But we have a great chance right now to introduce CO2 to the market. Not only in Europe but beyond. What we need is a common global solution.
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R744.com: How do you see the role played by R744.com?
Köhler: This platform, R744.com, is a real help to communicate and get important information fast, just in time. I really appreciate this platform and this website. It is a great help for the community.
R744.com: Do you see the website evolving into a platform where users can hold debates and share more information to help bring the technology forward?
Köhler: It is a on a good way. And finally: If not yet, it will be used as such a platform. I am positive about that.
R744.com: Thank you very much and congratulations once again for the German Environmental Prize 2007.
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