Klaus Knizia

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Klaus Knizia (born June 18, 1927 in Herne ; † April 7, 2012 in Herdecke ) was a German engineer, chairman of the board of the Vereinigte Elektrizitätswerke Westfalen AG (VEW) in Dortmund and honorary professor emeritus at the Technical University of Dortmund for the subjects of energy technology and energy economics .

Life

Knizia studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Karlsruhe from 1948 to 1953 and then joined the power plant planning department of VEW AG. From his preoccupation with the planning and construction of coal-fired power plants, he received his doctorate in 1959, also at the TH Karlsruhe, on the subject of 'The determination of the optimal efficiency of high-pressure, high-temperature steam power processes'. In 1963 Knizia switched to the manufacturer side and became technical director of L. & C. Steinmüller in Gummersbach. In 1969 Knizia moved to the board of directors of VEW AG and took over the power plant planning and construction, power plant operation and fuel procurement. In 1975 Knizia was elected CEO of VEW AG and held the office until the end of 1992.

In addition to improving the economic viability and efficiency of coal and gas-fired thermal power plants, he was interested in nuclear energy , especially the high-temperature reactor THTR-300 by Rudolf Schulten . Knizia saw its commitment to the THTR-300 as being able to make high-temperature heat available for coal refinement and chemistry in addition to economical and environmentally friendly power generation. Against the background of the unsatisfactory THTR-300 operation, Knizia urged its early shutdown in 1989.

Knizia was, among other things, as President of the National Committee of the World Energy Council, jointly responsible for the World Energy Conference in Munich in 1980. He was a member of the Enquête Commission of the German Bundestag "Future Nuclear Energy Policy" and for several years chairman of the board of VGB - Technical Association of Large Power Plant Operators Knizia was a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the German Academy for Technical Sciences (acatech) .

Knizia was an honorary doctor of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and recipient of the Otto Hahn Prize of the City of Frankfurt. In 1954 he became a member of the Germania Saarbrücken fraternity . From 1992 to 1994 he was chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Presidium of the Association of German Engineers (VDI).

Works

  • Creative Destruction = Creation Destroyed? : the industrial society and the discussion of the energy question . West German Verlag, Opladen, Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-531-08433-X .
  • Creativity, energy and entropy: thoughts against the zeitgeist . Econ, Düsseldorf, Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-430-15496-0 .
  • Energy supply in the field of tension between utopia and reality . West German Verlag, Opladen 1988, ISBN 3-531-08363-5 .
  • The Law of Events: Thoughts on the Energy Question . Econ, Düsseldorf, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-430-15495-2 .
  • Energy, order, humanity . Econ, Düsseldorf, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-430-15817-6 .
  • The thermodynamics of the steam power process . Volume 1 of the multi-part work by Ludwig Musil (ed.) The overall planning of steam power plants . Springer, Berlin 1966
  • The THTR-300 - a wasted opportunity? . atw-International Magazine for Nuclear Energy, Volume 47 (2002) Issue 2 February
  • Consideration for the continuation of the high-temperature reactor line from the point of view of VEW. Lecture on November 13, 1981 at the Ministry of Economics, Medium-sized Enterprises and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf. In: Karl-Peter Ellerbrock (Hrsg.): Westphalian economic history. Sources on economy, society and technology from the 18th to the 20th century. Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 2017, ISBN 978-3-402-13171-8 , pp. 692-693.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Burschenschaftliche Blätter 1999, p. 193. There he published: Art and Science of Possible. Pp. 193-195.
  2. ↑ G. Laalej: Klaus Knizia has died . In: VDI news . April 27, 2012, ISSN  0042-1758 , p. 27 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Knizia, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manager, chairman of the board of the Vereinigte Elektrizitätswerke Westfalen AG (VEW)
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Herne
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 2012
Place of death Herdecke