netzgebundener Versorgung

Introduction
Shaping the developments of network-based supply systems is a difficult challenge in the
context of preparing for the future. The structures for supplying the public with the basic
goods electricity, gas and water, and also telecommunication services, have become the
subject of public debates. A sustainable future for the supplies is being sought: measures for
protecting the climate have been requested; citizens have committed themselves to opposing
not only planned power stations, and coal mining, but also wind power plants; energy resources
like coal, oil and natural gas are becoming scarce and expensive. At the same time,
the supply utilities must meet the challenges of privatization, market openings and globalization.
The pressure of high costs necessitates savings. The question is which choices are
open within the framework of these determining factors.
"Sustainability" is an uncontested guideline for shaping the future of supplies. Several proposals
for sustainably securing future supplies have already been discussed, e. g. making
the supply systems more efficient by means of modern telecommunications, or relying more
on decentralized energy generation and the utilization of renewable energy sources as a way
out of the CO 2 problematic. However, what specific requirements will pave the way for a
sustainable path into the future remains unclear. On one hand, there is the problem of "normativity"
of the sustainability concept. lt is a matter of the subjective aims and values in a
society, which in the end evade a scientific decidability. Thus there are different and often
controversial concepts about what is meant by sustainable supplies. On the other hand,
decisions must be made under conditions of great uncertainty. How and in which direction
the supply sectors will develop and which ecological, economical and social effects could be
associated with these directions still remains open. lt is also unclear what positions stakeholders
will take on different future supply options.
Setting the course for a sustainable future supply means that a method is needed for diagnosing
the opportunities and risks of future developments as early as possible and for leveling
out promising paths. The bases upon which decisions are made should be as transparent
as possible and hence be easy to understand and put into action.
lt is against this background that this study looks at specific options for the future and uses
this as a basis for developing a method which tries to answer the question "What is it that we
want?". lt is not about an abstract discussion of the sustainability of future supplies or the
contribution of specific technologies to sustainability, but about views of the future of supplies
with respect to all societal aspects, with reference to which specific objectives are discussed,
the pros and cons of which are weighed up, and regarding which the expected conflicts and
potentials for reaching a consensus are leveled out. The essential features of this method
are the multiple stages involved and the inclusion of science and society. Scientific and societal
actors are involved in structured stages that build upon each other so that the elaborate
opportunities and risks of different options for the future can be hammered out.
The study was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the
joint research project "Integrierte Mikrosysteme der Versorgung" (Integrated Microsystems
for Supply) within the focal framework of "social-ecological research".
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