CAE Würzburg — Center for Applied Energy Research

Snapshot

Why it matters internationally

CAE sits at the interface between precision measurement and energy deployment. PTB stands closer to foundational metrology; CAE stands closer to the regime where emissivity and reflectance must be measured because they determine the behavior of cool materials, high-performance envelopes, radiative-cooling systems, and other energy technologies. CAE’s selection as host of the 2026 IR-EMPOWER workshop confirms its status as a leading applied-research node linking metrology, building materials, and passive radiative cooling.

Scope of activity

Relevant unit

• Advanced Thermal Management — headed by Jochen Manara. The group develops and applies thermal and infrared-optical measurement techniques together with radiative-transport modeling to improve thermophysical materials and systems.

Radiative properties measured

Emissivity · infrared-optical properties · radiative heat-transfer variables across a wide temperature range.

Capability envelope

• Temperature: broad applied-metrology facilities over a wide temperature range.
• Methodology: combined thermal and infrared-optical measurement techniques with radiative-transport modeling.
• Approach: emissivity and reflectance are measured because they govern the real-world performance of the systems being engineered.

Application domains

• Cool materials — cool roofs and walls
• High-performance building envelopes
• Radiative-cooling systems
• Thermal-management systems
• Improved thermophysical materials and systems

IR-EMPOWER contributions

• Jochen Manara delivered a plenary on applied metrological facilities for determining emissivity in a wide temperature range.
• CAE was announced as host of the 2026 IR-EMPOWER workshop in Würzburg, sealing its role as a focal point for the applied-emissivity community.

Why CAE is a reference pole

Where PTB treats emissivity as a quantity that must be defined to SI, CAE treats emissivity as a quantity that must be deployed: measured, modeled, and engineered into systems that people actually build. That complementarity — between a metrology institute and an applied-energy center both working at the highest technical level in the same country — is part of what makes the German thermo-optical ecosystem exceptionally strong.

External sources

• IR-EMPOWER preliminary program — EHU