Why researchers are now threatened with triage

Impending bottlenecks in the energy supply and the gas prices that have already risen sharply are a huge challenge for society as a whole. Many companies and citizens feel existentially threatened. Politicians are trying to mitigate the consequences of the energy crisis with so-called relief packages.

So far, however, politics has hardly said anything about how the German science system should deal with the foreseeable problems and what priorities should be set when it comes to saving energy, which is also inevitably necessary in this sector.

The Alliance of Science Organizations is now warning: "Universities will have to spend significantly more money on energy, which can lead to staff cuts, restrict academic teaching and affect the studies of thousands of students."

And it sounds like an appeal to politicians when the Alliance's statement goes on to say: "The aim of all necessary considerations and measures that are now to be pushed forward quickly and vigorously must not least be to ensure that relevant research work and - secure results in all scientific fields and at all scientific institutions.”

It is by no means the case that universities and research institutions are not already thinking about measures to save energy and reduce dependence on natural gas and have already taken the first steps.

"By proclaiming stage 2 of the gas emergency plan, the Max Planck Society shut down the combined heat and power plants that operate some of its institutes at the end of June and switched other systems to other energy sources," says MPG President Professor Martin Stratmann, "for the months In July and August, more than 35 percent could be saved in the purchase of natural gas compared to the respective month of the previous year (2021).

Replacing gas with oil, where feasible, is not yet a solution in view of the sharp rise in energy prices. Oil and electricity will also be significantly more expensive this coming winter than in previous years. Those research institutions that require a lot of electrical energy to carry out experiments are particularly affected. A lot of electricity is also required to operate animal houses and mainframe computers. Stratmann notes that "in principle, all experimental Max Planck institutes are severely affected by rising prices in the energy sector."

The energy requirements of universities depend very much on which courses are offered and which research work is carried out. However, it is not only the experimental natural sciences that are characterized by high energy consumption. A sports faculty, for example, can also incur significant energy costs with the operation of a swimming pool.

You can imagine how difficult it can be in individual cases to prioritize energy-saving measures: is the training pool for swimmers more important than a physical experiment or heating the large lecture hall building? Should face-to-face events be restricted again?

Practically everywhere, task forces at universities and research institutes have implemented all the obvious measures to save energy - lowering room temperatures, optimizing the usage times of laboratories, doing without stand-by operation of electrical devices, switching off hot water on the toilets or dimming the outside lights at night. In most cases, however, all of this should not be enough to continue paying the bills for electricity and heating in the future.

For example, Geraldine Rauch, President of the Technical University of Berlin, estimates the additional costs for electricity, gas and district heating expected in 2023 at between 66 and 114 million euros. In addition, all universities and research institutions are also confronted with rising personnel costs and the effects of inflation.

Germany's most energy-intensive research center is the German Electron Synchrotron (Desy) in Hamburg. "For the current year, we expect electricity consumption of 152 gigawatt hours," says the chairman of the Desy board of directors, Professor Helmut Dosch, "of which 83 gigawatt hours are for the particle accelerator and 12 gigawatt hours for the data center."

Even though the Desy research center (“Deutsches Elekronen-Synchrotron”) has secured 80 percent of its requirements at 2022 prices by concluding long-term electricity supply contracts for 2023, there is a foreseeable financing gap at this point. "There will be a lack of money for around 20 percent of the electricity requirement next year," notes Dosch, "it is unclear how things should continue."

The problem is likely to get worse in the following years, because in 2024 Desy will only receive 50 percent of the electricity at the old, low price. After all, one would like to say that nobody really wants to think about the time after 2024 at the moment.

The well-known immediate savings options have also been implemented at Desy. Office temperatures have been lowered and the provision of hot water has been stopped. "We can save seven gigawatt hours a year with this, that's almost five percent," says Dosch, "that won't be enough."

At Desy, we are already prepared that we want and need to use 10 to 15 percent less energy. "We stand by that," says the physicist, "but that will not be possible without restricting research operations."

The Desy accelerator "Petra-3" has also gone on a four-week Christmas break year after year. The focus was not on the aspect of saving energy, but simply on the scientists' need not to be in the research laboratory at Christmas and New Year's Eve. In addition, the downtime of the accelerator is also needed to carry out upcoming maintenance work.

"We are thinking about shutting down the accelerator for eight weeks instead of four," says Dosch, "that would then result in additional savings of more than four gigawatt hours." science has. “Petra-3 is used annually by around 3,000 researchers for their experiments. If a month less time is available at the fair, around 250 scientists would not get a chance.”

And then the exciting question arises as to how to select the research projects that may continue to be carried out and which scientists get nothing. "I'm afraid of a triage in research here," warns Dosch, but he does have a rough recommendation on how to proceed in this case. "We have to focus primarily on young scientists and not torpedo the work of young talents," says Dosch.

For example, it cannot be the case that a doctoral student is no longer allowed to complete the measurements that he absolutely needs for his dissertation. At this point, too, one suspects that it can be difficult in individual cases to make fair savings decisions. "You have to be aware of the medium and long-term consequences this can have for Germany as a location for science and its innovative strength."

Keeping an eye on and supporting young scientists is a noble goal. But if you take a look at the personnel structure of the science system, it quickly becomes clear that there is no potential for financial savings among civil servants and permanent employees, but primarily among young researchers with temporary contracts. It will not be easy to find a good balance here that will give science a future-proof perspective.

“The Alliance of Science Organizations is aware of the complexity of the challenges. At the same time, it feels it has a responsibility to draw attention to the threatening consequences in good time," says the statement by the alliance, which includes the German Research Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Fraunhofer Society, the Helmholtz Association, the German Rectors' Conference, the Leibniz Association, the Max Planck Society, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Science Council.

In their paper, they demand that a "massive weakening of the German science system and of Germany as a whole as a location for higher education and research" must be counteracted. This is a posh formulation for the demand for more money for science, which is obviously a sensitive topic in these times. But behind the scenes, leading researchers are discussing the fact that science needs additional billions to survive the crisis.

Professor Martin Stratmann puts it this way: “We would like to see concrete supporting measures from politicians. In order to cope with the enormously increasing energy costs, the research institutions must also be included in the capping of energy prices that has now been decided. We need an exemption from the electricity tax and more scope for the flexible procurement of electricity and gas. In order to cushion the burden of increased energy costs, the scientific institutions should participate in the state skimming off of chance profits. Likewise, the scientific institutions must be allowed to invest in energy saving measures.”