The German economic and industrial development in the nineteenth and twentieth century was based (among other things) on coal. After World War II, the reconstruction of both German states, too, was largely organized around the coal and steel industry. Therefore, it is a particular challenge,...

At least since the 1980 study on the energiewende by Krause et al. (Energie-Wende: Wachstum und Wohlstand ohne Erdöl und Uran. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer), renewable energies have been considered a viable alternative to conventional fossil fuels, and renewable energy technologies were seen...

The European Union has embarked on the transformation of its energy and electricity system to low-carbon energy sources, just like Germany and many other countries. This chapter analyzes the European strategy for low-carbon transformation in relation to specific aspects and features of the...

Long-term scenarios of the low-carbon energy transformation in Europe are quite diverse. In this chapter, we provide a detailed discussion of scenarios leading to a far-reaching decarbonization of the European energy system to 2050. We use an updated version of the Global Energy System Model...