While an engineer simply nods knowingly when the buzzword "sector coupling" is mentioned, the reaction among the general public and in non-scientific faculties is likely to be rather different. For example, with a subtle: Huh?

The term "sector coupling" (sometimes also referred to as sector coupling) is quite easy to grasp.

Prof. Haim and Volker Brade from the "Networked Mobility" sub-project of Saxony5 explain it like this:

This means that the "heat", "electricity" and "e-mobility" sectors, among others, are becoming increasingly interlinked and "help each other out". In this way, the fluctuations in the electricity grid caused by renewable energies can be better balanced and efficiency levels improved.

At the HSZG, Prof. Haim and Volker Brade, among others, are working with researchers from the other four Saxon universities of applied sciences to find out exactly what such an intelligent link could look like. This will all become tangible in the e-mobility laboratory of the "Networked Mobility" Co-Creation Lab, a sub-project of ^Saxony5, which is due to open soon.

An explanatory video on "sector coupling" has now been created in close cooperation between Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and Mittweida University of Applied Sciences: