Green Economy and Research
It is not only the Club of Rome that predicts that „the markets of the future are green.“ The renewable energy industry delivers technology and expertise for the rapid phase-out of nuclear power and for Germany‘s alternative energy policy, often referred to as the „Energy Revolution“, which is emphatically driven forward in Germany – according to the Federal government, it will invest up to 550 billion in this by 2050.
New value creation chains have become established and continue to be established in Freiburg, from basic research to technology transfer and global marketing. The environment and the economy do not represent contradictions here, rather the environmental industry is one of the key industries in the city and region.
Freiburg has achieved some of its greatest successes, both in an economic and environmental sense, in the research and marketing of renewable energy. This is evident simply by glancing at the cityscape. Solar installations as far as the eye can see: on the football stadium, exhibition centre and city hall, on the roofs of schools, churches and private houses, on façades and towers and yes, even on the former landfi ll site. After all, with over 1,800 hours of sunshine per year, Freiburg is one of the sunniest cities in Germany, a factor that is not just conducive to tourism. There are also hydroelectric systems on the River Dreisam and wind turbines on the heights of the Black Forest, as well as other technologies, like biomass plants.
