Activities of three institutes of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in the field of non-nuclear energy technology are bundled in the Efficient Energy Conversion Program. Research is devoted to the use of superconductivity, the investigation of combustion processes in power plants as well as to safety aspects of the use of hydrogen as a secondary fuel in fuel cells and mobile applications. Cooperation partners of the Program are industry and universities as well as the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center) within the Helmholtz Association.

Compared to normal conductors, superconductors allow much higher current densities at far smaller losses. Following the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, for which cooling with liquid nitrogen is sufficient, their use in components of electric energy technology, such as cables, transformers, and motors, promises to result in increased efficiencies, smaller weights, and smaller dimensions. Novel operation systems, such as energy stores and current limiters, may considerably improve the quality of mains operation. Activities are aimed at developing systems-adapted conductor technologies and functional models as well as at demonstrating the reliability of such components in cooperation with industry partners. Very-high-field coils are of crucial importance. They are used in magnetic energy stores of highest power density and in the important field of NMR spectrometer magnets.

On the way towards a more efficient and reduced-pollutant energy conversion in power plants, the following issues are studied in the field of power plant technology:

Furthermore, understanding of the behavior of trace gases during combustion processes will contribute to finding alternative fuels for energy production, which have not been used so far. Safety aspects related to the use of hydrogen are addressed by modeling its propagation, mixing, and possible ignition.