Emission-free camping: the campsite powered by renewable energy

Project description

The German Institute for Tourism Research (DI Tourismusforschung ) and the Institute for the Transformation of the Energy System (ITE) at the FH Westküste University of Applied Sciences are working on a joint project with the Federal Association of the Camping Industry in Germany e. V. (BVCD) on the regenerative orientation of campsite energy systems. The project, which runs from 01.07.2024 to 30.06.2025, is funded by the Federal Ministryfor Economic Affairs and Climate Protection(BMWK) as part of the funding announcement “Improving performance and promoting innovation in tourism: Innovative approaches for a sustainable transformation of the tourism industry in light of the UN Sustainable Development Goals” (LIFT Transformation). Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges of our time. The most urgent appeal from climate researchers in this context is the urgent need to drastically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Germany has currently committed itself to greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045 in the Climate Protection Act of 2021. In order to achieve the climate protection targets, a number of laws and measures have been passed at EU and federal level in recent years, including, for example, the Renewable Energy Sources Act to promote the expansion of renewable energies and the ban on the registration of new cars with combustion engines that do not emit CO2 from 2035. One relevant source of emissions is tourism, including camping trips, which have experienced a real boom in German tourism in recent years, but are generally also associated with a high degree of mobility and are therefore a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. The defined climate targets and the measures adopted to achieve them mean that the camping segment and campsites in particular are facing a major transformation process. The number of electric camping vehicles will increase dramatically over the next two decades and the future need for charging infrastructure for electric vehicles at campsites will lead to a significant increase in energy and, above all, electrical power requirements at campsites. Together with the heat transition, this development will ensure that in-house electricity production from renewable energy sources and electricity storage measures will play a key role in the economic maintenance of a campsite and in the supply of electricity to guests. Campsite operators need support in this situation, especially in the technically and economically sensible selection, design and dimensioning of their energy generation and storage systems, taking into account the site-specific conditions. The aim of the project is to support the operators of campsites in Germany in the necessary transformation of their energy systems and thus promote the competitiveness and resilience of campsites through a more sustainable offering. To this end, the project aims to

• Developed concrete measures in “modular form” in the areas of energy generation, storage and consumption for the regenerative, largely emission-free installation of campsite energy systems
• and tested conceptually and simulatively on the basis of case studies and backed up with viable business models.
• As a result, campsites will be provided with guidelines to help them decide on specific investments in a climate-friendly transformation of their energy systems, taking into account different situational framework conditions.