May 7, 2025
LBST prepares study on the environmental impact of automotive wiring harnesses
On behalf of the Open Hybrid Labfactory (OHLF) e.V. and as part of the transformation hub wiring harness project, LBST compiled a life cycle analysis (LCA) of partial wiring harnesses for a battery-electric and a conventionally powered car. The effects on climate change, acidification, raw material and primary energy requirements were determined from the extraction of raw materials through to the manufacture, disposal and recycling of the products (cradle to cradle).
As part of the study, a number of free dates for training are also planned on the topic of LCA in general and specifically for automotive wiring harnesses: The next free events will take place on June 3 in Nuremberg and July 1 in Stuttgart.
More information you will find on our German publication site: LINK
February, 2025
LBST contributes to a study to determine investment needs for a carbon-free energy infrastructure in Europe
In a study for the EU Commission (DG ENER), LBST, in partnership with Trinomics and Artelys, identified the investment requirements for a fully decarbonised energy system in Europe.
LBST’s analysis focused on the hydrogen infrastructure, including pipelines, underground storage facilities, facilities for the transport sector (in particular H2 refuelling stations), import terminals and electrolysis plants with a system-beneficial effect.
In addition to the expansion of the transmission grid, major investments in the H2 pipeline infrastructure will be required.
March 20, 2025
LBST expert Dr Leo Diehl presents on the topic: ``Current and expected future availability of alternative fuels in shipping`` for sustainable commercial shipping
Against the background of the Fuel EU Maritime Regulation, which came into force in January 2025, and the discussion about current developments, practical experience and approaches for shipping, Dr Leo Diehl spoke at the ‘Alternative Fuels’ workshop on 6 March 2025 at the Maritime Competence Centre in Leer about the current and expected future availability of alternative fuels such as hydrogen, methanol and ammonia in shipping.
Dr. Leo Diehl commented: “The chicken-and-egg problem can only be solved by courageous first movers, and there is no alternative to decarbonizing shipping. A key challenge related to the availability of alternative fuels will be ensuring equitable access for smaller market participants during the market ramp-up.”
You can download the press release on the workshop and the presentation by Dr Leo Diehl below.
February 18, 2025
Workshop: Hydrogen mobility at the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, State Development and Energy
How will the ramp-up of hydrogen mobility succeed? What technologies and best practices already exist? At the Hydrogen Mobility Showcase Day on 11 March 2025, you will gain exclusive insights into current developments and practical solutions!
The H2.B event is being organised under the patronage of the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy and in cooperation with Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik GmbH (LBST).
Registration deadline: 03.03.2025
February 11, 2025
Milestone reached: over 1,000 hydrogen refuelling stations in op-eration worldwide in 2024
Munich. In 2024, around 125 new hydrogen refuelling stations were opened worldwide: 42 in Europe, around 30 in China, 25 in South Korea, 8 in Japan and 13 in North America. This is the result of the 17th annual evaluation of H2stations.org, an information service of LBST GmbH. 45 countries now have a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in operation or under construction.
February 06, 2025
LBST Welcomes Christine Funck as New Co-Managing Director to Drive Innovation and Sustainable Growth
Munich, 06.02.2025 – LBST is excited to announce the appointment of Christine Funck as its new Co-Managing Director. Together with Sofia Capito, she will lead the company into the future, fostering innovation, collaboration, and growth.
Christine Funck brings extensive experience in strategic management, business development, and a deep passion for renewable energy and transformative projects.
With a strong track record in go-to-market strategies for complex and innovative products across industries – including automotive, consulting, financial services, and renewable energy – Ms. Funck is well-positioned to contribute to LBST’s continued success.
Most recently, Christine Funck played a leading role at Swiss Sustainable Yachts AG in Zurich, where she successfully spearheaded the development, implementation, and market launch of a sustainable solar-hydrogen catamaran.
Her expertise in integrating sustainable solutions with cutting-edge technology aligns with LBST’s commitment to supporting customers on their journey toward a clean energy future.
Ms. Funck holds a degree in Business Administration from the European Business School (EBS) in Rheingau and an MBA in General Management from Harvard Business School in Boston, USA.
Additionally, she has completed a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Renewable Energy Management from the University of St. Gallen, further strengthening her credentials in the sustainable energy sector.
With Christine Funck joining the leadership team, LBST remains dedicated to guiding businesses toward a sustainable future through innovative solutions and proven business strategies.
December 10, 2024
Clean Energy Ports - Recently published Study for the European Commission
The urgent need to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 requires a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from all modes of transport, including maritime transport. To achieve this climate target and energy policy goals, ports have a key role to play in the electrification and transition to low-carbon and renewable energy sources, which represent an important pathway to decarbonisation.
The study aims to develop economically viable energy business models for European ports that are in line with the European Union’s policy framework and advance the objectives of the European Green Deal and REPowerEU.
The LBST contribution focussed on policy implementation aspects related to the Transport Energy Network for Electricity (TEN-E) and the Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy (ORES), including its update for 2023.
November 21, 2024
LBST is in a uniquely strong position to guide you through
CertifHy RFNBO Pre-Certification
What is pre-certification?
Pre-certification gets facilities ready for the certification process and initial audit at the start of commercial production. To that end, we will do a certification dry run exercise with you and support you with overcoming obstacles that might still stand in the way of certification. Pre-certification is typically recommended for projects in the pre-FEED or FEED stage before the start of facility building. This ensures that design elements needed for certification can already be integrated in the project set-up at the design stage and do not cause issues later on.
September 30, 2024
Optimizing electrolysis & PtX plants
The interaction of renewable energies, battery storage, electrolysis, and hydrogen storage is crucial for the cost-efficient provision of hydrogen and its derivatives. Depending on the hydrogen demand profile, available renewable energies, and the operational dynamics of electrolysis, as well as other process steps (e.g., PtX plants), different storage technologies are required and sensible. An overdimensioning of renewable energies compared to electrolysis and subsequent processes may also be necessary.
As a new service LBST offers an optimization model, implemented in AIMMS which enables the definition of necessary technologies and their relevance in the overall concept, as well as the determination of key performance parameters (power, storage capacity) already in the early project conception phase.
November 20, 2024
Annual CertifHy Stakeholder Platform Plenary Session 2024
Join us for the annual CertifHy Stakeholder Platform Plenary Session, a dynamic forum focused on empowering your renewable hydrogen business. This year, we’ll delve into the CertifHy EU RFNBO Voluntary Scheme, discussing its development, benefits, and future prospects. This year’s plenary session will be held as a side event of the European Hydrogen Week in Brussels, Wednesday, 20th November 2024.
Discover how CertifHy can help you drive sales and increase market relevance in the growing renewable hydrogen sector.
July 11, 2024
LBST mourns the loss of Managing Director Dr Uwe Albrecht
It was with great shock and sadness that the shareholders, management and employees of LBST received the news of the death of their Managing Director, Dr. Uwe Albrecht. Dr. Uwe Albrecht passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday 9 July 2024 after a short but serious illness.
Dr. Uwe Albrecht (61) had been managing director and co-partner of LBST GmbH since 1 November 2008. He had shared the role of Managing Director with Sofia Capito since March 2021.
May 13, 2024
Water use in the context of hydrogen production in the State of Brandenburg, Germany
What does an ambitious ramp-up of hydrogen production mean for the regional water balance?
The experts at Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST) addressed these questions in a study for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Energy of the State of Brandenburg (MWAE). In collaboration with DHI WASY and Water Science Policy (now Onewater), the analyses included an estimate of future water requirements for electrolysers in Brandenburg based on the technological principles of water demand and consumption for future H2 production, potential ramp-up scenarios for hydrogen and a data analysis of water availability and the regional water balance.
March 19, 2024
Dive into the latest report update: E-Fuels: “A techno-economic assessment of European domestic production and imports towards 2050 – Update”
Commissioned by Concawe and Aramco, this comprehensive study dives deep into the techno-economic and environmental aspects of a broad range of e-fuels pathways, including e-hydrogen, e-methanol, e-kerosene, and more, across Europe and the MENA regions.
Gain insights into:
- NEW: Impact of the intermittency and seasonality of renewable energy on production costs, plant sizing and storage requirements
- Stand-alone versus e-fuel plants integrated with oil refineries
- Cost comparisons of e-fuels with fossil fuels, incumbent and advanced alternative fuels
- Glimpse into the future of e-fuels in Europe (potential demand, renewable electricity potential, land and feedstock requirements)
- Safety and environmental considerations, barriers to deployment, and regulation
February 6, 2024
LBST expert Patrick Schmidt holds guest lecture on SAFs at University of Surrey (UK)
LBST expert Patrick Schmidt gave a guest lecture at the University of Surrey (UK) on February 6, 2024. The focus of the lecture was on so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs).
The presentation is available for download below.
February 1, 2024
Europe is increasingly adapting its growing hydrogen refuelling
infrastructure to include heavy-duty vehicle refuelling
December 5, 2023
Techno-Economics of PtL and PtH2
November 14, 2023
Presentation on the techno-economic assessment of e-fuel production
On November 14, 2023, Patrick Schmidt (LBST) and Victor Gordillo (aramco) presented their latest findings on the technical-economic assessment of e-fuel production at the “#P2X CONCFERENCE” at VDMA, with a special focus on the effects of the interruption of renewable energy sources.
The event took place in the afternoon of November 14th in Frankfurt am Main.
You can dowload the study “E-Fuels: A techno-economic assessment of European domestic production and imports until 2050” conducted collaboratively by LBST and E4tech together with aramco and Concawe in 2022 here:
June 5, 2023
Presentation of PRHYDE results at World Hydrogen Mobility 2023
How will rapid hydrogen fuelling of heavy-duty vehicles work in the future?
This question was in the centre of PRHYDE, a European project funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (CHJU). In the project consortium coordinated by LBST, 11 international partners and 14 further stakeholders worked intensively over 3 years on the development of new refueling protocol concepts for compressed (gaseous) hydrogen fuelling in heavy-duty transport.
Core results of the project were presented by Christopher Kutz at World Hydrogen Mobility 2023 in Stuttgart and are available at the following link.
May 5, 2023
For our 40th company anniversary, we have given ourselves something special - a new LBST logo!
Inspired by our logo history, we have developed a modern design that reflects our values and identity as a company. Our logo has gone through several changes over the past decades, but our commitment to transparency and excellence in our analyses has always remained the same. The new logo represents the same LBST with the same values and the same high quality standards as before. We are proud to celebrate our 40th anniversary with this new look and look forward to continuing serving our international clients from industry, the public sector, and the finance sector.
February 2, 2023
Another record addition of European hydrogen refuelling stations
in 2022
Munich. In 2022, 130 hydrogen refuelling stations went into operation worldwide, 73 of them in Asia and 11 in North America. 45 new hydrogen stations opened in Europe, again more than ever before. Like in the previous year, South Korea was the country adding the largest number of new stations. This is the result of the 15th annual assessment of H2stations.org, an information service of Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST). Meanwhile hydrogen refuelling is available in 37 countries.
December 23, 2022
New Study by Hydrogen Council and World Bank on critical materials for clean hydrogen - with support by LBST
LBST experts supported Hydrogen Council in their contribution to the World Bank report: “Sufficiency, Sustainability, and Circularity of Critical Materials for Clean Hydrogen”.
The study provides a cross-sectoral perspective on the resource intensity of key hydrogen technologies to cope with the expected significant increase in hydrogen production in the coming decades.
For further information, please also check Hydrogen Council’s press release: here.
November 2022
Presentation on the study ``H2 infrastructure for commercial vehicles in long-distance transport``
Selected contents of the study “H2 infrastructure for commercial vehicles in long-distance transport” were presented by Dipl.-Ing. Jan Zerhusen on 17 November 2022 as part of the conference “Strategy Dialogue Automotive Industry Baden-Württemberg” in Brussels.
The topic of the presentation is the relevance of long-distance transport in terms of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector and the expected rapid ramp-up of the H2 fuel demand by 2030. The H2 fuel options discussed for this case of application (70 MPa, sLH2, CcH2) are briefly presented. The main focus, however, is on the challenges that have to be mastered in setting up the refuelling infrastructure as well as on selected recommendations for action for politics and industry.
Further aspects on the topic as well as additional recommendations will be available in the overall study, which will be jointly prepared by LBST and DLR for the Landesagentur e-mobil BW by the end of 2022. The publication of the study is planned for February 2023.
September 8, 2022
Study: E-Kerosene for Commercial Aviation
The Paris climate goals require commercial aviation to deal with the question, how its fossil energy base can be converted to renewable energies in a sustainable manner. Kerosene from the synthesis of hydrogen and CO2 from renewable sources (e-kerosene) plays a central role here. The ClimateWorks Foundation has commissioned a group of experts to shed light on this issue. The study was prepared by the German Energy Agency (dena), the Finnish LUT University and the technology and strategy consultancy Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik GmbH (LBST). Results include an assessment of the volumes, costs, area demand, and competition for renewable electricity of e-kerosene produced with CO2 from Direct Air Capture (DAC) in the US and Europe 2030 to 2050 in a net-zero scenario in 2050.
July 4, 2022
Updated version of LBST’s power-to-liquids study for German UBA
PtL fuels are widely acknowledged as an important option to make aviation CO2 neutral, and the industrial production of PtL fuels has come within reach. The updated version of the background paper for the UBA from 2016 gives a review of the basic principles of PtL production routes and draws a comparison between competing fuel options based on sustainability criteria.
February 10, 2022
Requirements for production and export of sustainable hydrogen: LBST conducts international study for GIZ
Together with ILF Chile, Ludwig-Bölkow Systemtechnik GmbH has conducted a study on the requirements for the production and export of green and sustainable hydrogen on behalf of the German-Chilean Energy Partnership under the direction of the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). This study was supplemented by a survey with potential off-takers of green hydrogen and derivatives in Germany.
February 01, 2022
Another record number of newly opened hydrogen refuelling stations in 2021
Munich. In 2021, 142 hydrogen refuelling stations went into operation worldwide, again more than ever before. 37 new hydrogen stations were opened in Europe, 89 in Asia, and 13 in North America. This is the result of the 14th annual assessment of H2stations.org, an information service of Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST). Meanwhile hydrogen refuelling is possible in 33 countries.
September 8, 2022
LBST supporting EU Commission with the amendment of RED II
Together with its partners, Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik GmbH has developed a technical analysis for the European Commission, which serves as the basis for the development and implementation of the amendment to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).
