SRH students evaluate sustainability concept

SRH students evaluate sustainability concept for gas reduction in agriculture

Students of the Master programme 'International Business and Engineering'  at the SRH University in North Rhine-Westphalia visited Haus Düsse in Bad Sassendorf, a teaching and research facility of the Chamber of Agriculture under the direction of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association, as part of their lecture on "Sustainable Energy".

Hamm, 10 September 2021
Haus Düsse has an almost unique technological process worldwide for separating faeces and urine from cattle, one of the most important processes for gas reduction. Other technologically advanced methods at Haus Düsse include milking robots that the cows use voluntarily up to six times a day. In a specially designed energy exhibition, the students were also shown that a farm can also be an energy producer. Haus Düsse, for example, produces heat for the entire farm with its own biogas plant.

"Livestocks long shadow"
SRH lecturer Prof. Dr. Hartmut Weigelt was the initiator of the excursion. In his lecture, he deals, among other things, with the topic "Livestocks long shadow". This on the currently discussed topic of "climate crisis" looks at the effects on the climate of harmful gases from livestock farming. "Under the guidance of Andreas Pelzer, the deputy head of the facility, we were able to learn about the methods that have been developed for livestock farming that lead to a reduction in methane and ammonia emissions," sums up Prof. Weigelt after the excursion.

Sustainability is lived at the SRH University of Applied Sciences in NRW and is also a research topic
"Sustainability and emission reduction are not only the focus of teaching, but are currently also the subject of research at SRH", says SRH Vice Chancellor for Research and Transfer, Prof. Dr. Claus Wilke. Under the project name "Mercedes-Benz Plant Goes Green", the university is investigating the use of fuel cell forklifts over a longer period of time together with the automotive plant in Düsseldorf. "The aim is to research the use of the hydrogen-powered emission-free forklifts, which are primarily used indoors, for economic efficiency and a positive environmental balance", says Prof. Wilke about the project.

The topic of sustainability is firmly anchored in the curriculum of the SRH University in North Rhine-Westphalia. In order to establish a sustainability strategy, the latest developments are taken up, intensively discussed and integrated into the mission statement of the SRH University of Applied Sciences in NRW.