EPS-SIF Energy Summer School 2019: Concluding remarks

This paper is based on the last talk of the summer school. The intention of the talk was not to repeat any highlights of the school, rather to place the energy issue in a wider frame of global issues like global warming and the global responses to this threat. Therefore, I tried to compile —where possible— new data which inform the audience on the present stage of the energy transition toward carbon-free technologies and some expected future trends. The largest hopes for a successful transformation are connected to renewable energy forms. This field is discussed here mostly from a system point of view whereas I resort heavily to examples from Germany. The most obvious reason is that I am familiar with the German development and have access to the most relevant data. On the other hand, the German experience is of importance for other highly industrialised economies and its development affects other countries because of its central location.