A village is being built in the Netherlands that will be completely self-sufficient - from electricity production to food supply. The Utopia website shows what it will look like:
Utopia.de
Dresden, 22.10.2019
Heliatek, the world's leading provider of organic solar energy solutions, announces that its award-winning technology has been certified by TÜV Rheinland as having a carbon footprint of less than 16 kg CO2e/m2 in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). For a sustainable future in the face of ever increasing climate change, the planet's growing energy needs must be met by environmentally friendly low carbon energy sources. Heliatek has developed industrial grade organic solar films that are suitable for almost any building surface and help to significantly avoid greenhouse gas emissions.
After less than 3 months, the organic solar films studied already save the CO2e (CO2 equivalent) produced during the entire life cycle, from production to disposal. "We can proudly announce that we offer one of the most environmentally friendly ways to generate electricity and significantly avoid greenhouse gas emissions. The unique composition of our organic solar films without toxic materials and with PET based protective films makes even the disposal of the modules at the end of their life easy and at the same time environmentally conscious," says Guido van Tartwijk, CEO of Heliatek.
In order to compare the carbon footprint with other solar technologies, all results must be converted into g CO2e/kWh. This value takes into account the lifetime electricity generation for a given location. For Southern Europe, HeliaSol® has a carbon footprint of only 5-7 g CO2e/kWh (7-9 g CO2e/kWh in Central Europe) and thus already significantly undercuts all current solar technologies.
Global Carbon Footprint of HeliaSol®
Standard modules based on crystalline silicon achieve values of 40 - 100 g CO2e/kWh depending on the installation site and the origin of the modules. "With the planned improvement in our efficiency, we will further reduce the carbon footprint of our product to become the energy source with the lowest CO2 footprint - including hydropower, wind and solar energy. This is a truly green product," says Jan Birnstock, CTO of Heliatek.
Heliatek is currently installing the new production line for the series production of its unique OPV solar films. The production line is in the start-up phase and will produce organic solar films with an annual capacity of up to 1 million m² from mid-2020.
About the TÜV Rheinland life cycle assessment
TÜV Rheinland has certified Heliatek's HeliaSol® , as one of the first companies in the solar industry, in a life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040/44. This analysis provides a structured and comprehensive method for quantifying energy and material flows and their potential environmental impact. The LCA analyzes the environmental impact of all phases of a product's life, from raw material procurement, through production and use, to disposal at the end of the product's life, including all transport and delivery routes ("cradle-to-grave"). All site-related conversions of the TÜV values were carried out by Heliatek.
The TÜV Rheinland certificate is available online at the ID number below and can be accessed by scanning the following QR code:
About Heliatek
As the technology leader in organic photovoltaics, Heliatek develops, produces and distributes industrial organic PV solar solutions for almost any building surface (horizontal, vertical, curved, rigid and flexible). Heliatek is synonymous with energy solutions designed for various traditional applications that were previously impossible due to their unique properties - they are ultra-light, flexible and truly green. HeliaSol® is a ready-made solution, ideal for retrofitting existing buildings. HeliaFilm® is a tailor-made solar film for companies in the construction and building materials industries, which can be integrated into their façade or roofing system products. Heliatek currently employs around 150 people at its sites in Dresden and Ulm in Germany.
Research and development work as well as the installation of production technology were supported by the Free State of Saxony, the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union.
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, News Blog Saxony, PV, Life cycle assessment, Ecology
In the Federal Republic of Germany, more than 720 million square metres of building surface have been covered with polystyrene since the Second World War.
Now, according to manager magazins, a series of major fires in industry has startled the insurance industry. Accordingly, the insurance industry now openly advises against not only Styrofoam as an insulating material for commercial enterprises, but also against the raw material polystyrene and the related EPS rigid foam.
"The critical fire behaviour of EPS rigid foam is well known," a spokeswoman for the insurance association GDV told manager-magazin.de.
You can find the whole article from 3.1.2017 in the manager magazin
Keywords:
Stock, DE-News, Resource efficiency, Environmental policy, Housing policy, Thermal insulation, Economics
"The building sector is responsible for around one third of all CO2-emissions in Germany. To achieve a climate-neutral building stock by 2050, the energy refurbishment of existing buildings alone is not enough," explains Michael Zahn, CEO of Deutsche Wohnen SE. "We also need to exploit the technological possibilities for CO2-Reduction to the fullest and open up the opportunity for our tenants to live sustainably."
Together with GETEC, Deutsche Wohnen will in future jointly develop offers for green tenant electricity and electric mobility for its tenants. As an important contribution to the energy transition in the big city, the companies want to promote decentralised power supply by means of photovoltaic (PV) systems in the neighbourhoods. Around 1,000 PV systems will be installed on the roofs of Deutsche Wohnen's properties - the first 20 will go into operation this year. The electricity generated by these systems will be directly available to the tenants in the buildings as green tenant electricity, without first being fed through the grid. This conserves resources and relieves the strain on electricity grids. Even small solar systems with a peak output of 38 kilowattsPeak (kWP) save around 14 tonnes of CO2 in. In Deutsche Wohnen's portfolios, the savings potential thus amounts to a total of around 14,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
"Deutsche Wohnen has been investing in improving the carbon footprint of its properties for years. The expansion of photovoltaics is the next logical step towards climate-neutral living and working. We will invest around 50 million euros in this over the next ten years," says Michael Zahn.
In the future, the decentrally generated electricity will also be used to charge e-vehicles in the respective residential complexes, among other things. Together with GETEC, Deutsche Wohnen intends to set up more than 2,000 charging points across Germany. Planning for the first joint charging infrastructure projects has already begun. The investment volume amounts to approximately 25 million euros.
"Together with Deutsche Wohnen, we are creating needs-based electric charging infrastructure in neighbourhoods across Germany, sending a clear signal for the mobility turnaround," says Dr Karl Gerhold, managing partner of GETEC Energie Holding GmbH, underlining the aims of the collaboration.
Deutsche Wohnen and GETEC will establish the joint company SYNVIA mobility GmbH for the construction and operation of electric charging stations. The electricity generated in the districts will be marketed by the new joint company SYNVIA energy GmbH.
Source: Deutsche Wohnen PM dated 29 September 2020
Keywords:
Stock, DE-News, Renewable, News Blog Berlin, PV, eMobility
Stadtwerke Ludwigsburg-Kornwestheim is building one of the largest solar thermal plants in Germany with a collector area of over 10,000 m². The way is clear for another forward-looking project in Ludwigsburg: Stadtwerke Ludwigsburg-Kornwestheim GmbH (SWLB) has won the funding call for municipal climate protection model projects as part of the national climate protection initiative of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in Berlin.
Their funding application for the SolarHeatGrid model project for the 'construction and connection of one of the largest solar thermal plants in Germany to an optimised heating network', in which the City of Ludwigsburg is involved as a cooperation partner, was approved. The official handover of the Municipal Climate Protection Model Project grant to Bodo Skaletz, Managing Director of SWLB, took place on 12 May 2017 by Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, in the presence of the Lord Mayor of the City of Ludwigsburg and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SWLB, Werner Spec, and the Lord Mayor of the City of Kornwestheim and Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Stadtwerke.
"In terms of the amount of funding, our solar thermal project is the front-runner in the ranking of the seven projects that were also approved. The federal government is contributing 10.4 million euros to the realisation of Ludwigsburg's large-scale project, which should inspire imitation throughout Germany," says a delighted Bodo Skaletz, Managing Director of SWLB.
"This renewal of the district heating network with solar heat is particularly forward-looking with regard to the feasibility of municipal heat supply with renewable energies. Swapping fossil for renewable - it works. I congratulate Ludwigsburg on this major high-tech piece of the puzzle, also in terms of CO2 savings and improved energy efficiency," confirms Parliamentary State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter.
"The 'SolarHeatGrid' is an important building block in the implementation of our overall energy concept for Ludwigsburg," explains Mayor Werner Spec. "We are thus significantly expanding our heat supply on a renewable basis and linking it across municipal boundaries. This is entirely in the spirit of sustainable settlement development: as cities, we must continue to commit ourselves locally with all our strength to environmental and climate protection."
The official start of this lighthouse project is 1 June 2017. The model project is scheduled to take a total of three years. As part of the project, the existing Ludwigsburg district heating network, which already provides heat for large parts of the city using mainly renewable raw materials, will be merged with the Rotbäumlesfeld, Technische Dienste Ludwigsburg (Gänsfußallee 21) and Kornwestheim-Nord networks, which are currently still supplied with fossil fuels. The construction of the solar thermal plant in connection with a large heat storage tank, which is to be built at the location of the CHP plant, will additionally feed high-quality, regeneratively generated heat into the expanded interconnected grid. This will further increase the amount of heat from renewable energies. With the help of the heat storage facility, the energy generated will also be available when there is little or no solar radiation.
The base load heat of the fossil-fuelled heating centres of the individual grids can thus be replaced by the largely regeneratively generated heat of the expanded interconnected grid. Approximately five kilometres of new district heating pipes will be laid over the next three years to connect the solar thermal system and the interconnected grid. In addition to the CO2 savings that will be achieved through the growing share of renewable energies in the expanded district heating network, the declared goal of the large-scale project is to increase energy efficiency. "In order to ensure that energy is used as efficiently as possible, it is not only the heat generation and distribution by SWLB that is decisive, but also the consumer side," Skaletz explains and adds: "As part of the network interconnection, measures are therefore to be implemented to reduce the so-called return temperatures, on which the performance of our district heating network depends to a large extent."
SWLB submitted the funding application in November 2016. The project aims to increase the share of renewable energies in the district heating network and to actively promote local climate protection and the energy transition at the local level by reducing CO2 emissions. More information on the municipal climate protection model project at: www.swlb.de/solar-heat-grid
PM of the Stadtwerke Ludwigsburg-Kornwestheim from 12.05.2017
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, Solar thermal, Environmental policy, Ecology
