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Houses are disappearing due to landslides, hurricanes are unroofing several houses, floods and droughts lead to crop failures. These are no longer reports of disasters happening in Florida, Haiti, the Philippines, or Africa. These are news from Europe, from Germany. Today, questions regarding secure energy and food supply as well as a solid house are very rarely on our minds.

But how will it look like in two hundred years or the year 2250?

Regarding the year 2250, the living conditions that can be expected as well as possible technologies on which humans will depend.

The worst-case scenario of how our planet will be presented. In this scenario, climate change and its consequences progressed inexorably. Humans and their old technologies have failed. As a result, most adverse living conditions prevail. Humanity depends on technology like never before.

Regarding the scenario, only the natural environmental conditions are considered. Social aspects, politics, economy and wars are not included. Furthermore, there is the aspiration to work scientifically and to make realistic assumptions to exclude a science-fiction scenario.

The energy sector is in transition. The words energy transition and energy revolution are ever-present. This raises various questions for the near and distant future, for example in the year 2250. This lecture series deals with the topic of the energy supply of the future. Hereby the power supply is focused.

In the context of this lecture series, we invite two experts in this field who have been working intensively for years on the development of our power grid. We are on our way to a climate-neutral power supply based on renewable energies. Though there are still many unanswered questions. After the presentations of the experts, we start a panel discussion. Here we want to discuss questions like the following as well as the questions of the participants.

• How will our energy supply develop further?
• How will the electricity industry become climate-neutral?
• How will we be able to manage the transformation of a fossil-based power generation to a renewable-based one by guarantying a stable reliable distribution at the same time?  
• What needs to be considered in electricity generation and distribution regarding the changing climatic conditions we expect due to climate change?

Raw materials are part of our modern life. Without them our everyday life is impossible. Technology, medicine, basic supplies - raw materials are needed everywhere. However, our use of raw materials is highly damaging to the environment. For example, the damage is caused by the extraction of chromium and lithium or the use of raw materials that emit greenhouse gases, such as crude oil, natural gas and coal. In general, we need to become more aware of how we use our resources - especially harmful and finite raw materials. 

A finite and also - after air and water - the most used raw material is sand. A distinction is made between grains of sand formed by wind and grains of sand formed by water. 

Water-formed sand grains are needed for the production of glass, microchips and concrete. They occur in riverbeds and lakes as well as on coasts. Water-formed sand is limited. However, our society is striving for progress and digitalization is in full swing. For this, we need grains of sand formed by water.

• How can we combine our interests in growth and climate-friendly action?
• Are there ways to optimize the recycling chain of sand?
• Can other raw materials with similar properties to sand be used as substitutes?
• If we run out of sand in 2250, which technologies are we going to miss and will be needed to be replaced?

We will address these questions and more in our lecture series on raw materials.

Due to rapid advances in the field of medicine, people's life expectancy increases annually. In general, this is a positive aspect. In parallel, urbanization continues to develop. The constant climate change will make parts of the country uninhabitable in the foreseeable future. More and more people are drawn to the metropolitan areas that already exist because of a wide variety of factors. There, population density continues to rise.

• How will we be able to live as comfortably as possible in a world which will be challenged by a population structure that is strongly influenced by climate change?
• Which technologies will make buildings resistant to extreme weather conditions, such as heat, cold, heavy rain or storms? 
• How can we live in an energy-efficient and climate-neutral way?
• What are the options for dealing with congested infrastructure in cities?

These questions of urban development will be discussed together with experts from relevant fields.

In this event, we will look at mobility in the year 2250. With proven experts in this field, we will learn about possible future drive and traffic concepts and discuss their realization. In addition, fields of action for young and prospective engineers will be highlighted and discussed.