Institute Living and Environment (IWU): Vision of the energy-efficient city
Published
In cooperation between the TU Darmstadt and the Institute Housing and Environment (IWU), the endowed junior professorship "Models of Housing and Energy Policy in Cities" was established and filled by the scientist Kai Schulze. He teaches and conducts research at the Institute of Political Science in the Department of Social and Historical Sciences at TU Darmstadt.
Schulze's research focuses on environmental and energy policy analysis. To this end, he combines theories and approaches of policy analysis, comparative politics and Europeanisation. The junior professorship could also build thematic bridges to the engineering sciences. At the same time, the Institute Housing and Environment expects valuable impulses. The IWU, a non-profit institute financed by the State of Hesse and the City of Darmstadt, conducts interdisciplinary research on the housing market and housing policy as well as on the efficient use of energy in buildings. "From the cooperation with the endowed junior professorship, we hope to make valuable contributions to make findings from research more usable for policy and societal advice," says Dr. Monika Meyer, managing director of IWU. The Institute will bear the personnel costs of the junior professorship, which is initially limited to three years and can be extended for a further three years.
Resilient Cities Congress of the Cities Network ICLEI in Bonn
The Paris Climate Agreement involves all levels of government in addressing climate change. At the local level, these are cities and municipalities. The ICLEI network of cities, which includes 22 German cities, is meeting in Bonn from 26 to 28 April for the "Resilient Cities Congress". Around 400 participants will exchange their experiences on climate protection measures and climate cooperation. The congress is an official part of the Talanoa Dialogue. Talanoa is a Fijian principle of decision-making and refers to an open dialogue that involves all stakeholders.
BMU State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth: "Cities and regions have a key role in climate protection. Worldwide, 1,500 cities are linked in the ICLEI network. In Bonn, city representatives from all over the world discuss what can be done for climate protection at the municipal level and how climate change can be countered. Ideally, the climate activities of all levels of government are coordinated. The Talanoa Dialogue is one way to organise this. It is also an opportunity to bring together voices from different actors around the world - including the visions and commitments of cities and regions - to sustain the positive momentum of Paris and stimulate the improvement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2020."
Two examples of a German ICLEI member and an Asian city network illustrate climate protection efforts at the municipal level. Münster is one of the 22 German cities that is a member of the ICLEI network. The city relies on cooperation for climate protection. The local "Alliance for Climate Protection" aims to bring together relevant actors to jointly develop concrete local climate protection projects. At the same time, the actors involved in the alliance commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. In doing so, they contribute to the implementation of the ambitious climate goals of the city of Münster. By 2050, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by 95% and final energy consumption by 50% compared to 1990. 21% CO2 reduction could already be achieved by 2015. The "100% Climate Protection Master Plan" translates the vision of the city of Münster into a concrete strategy until 2050. The Master Plan and the Alliance are funded within the framework of the National Climate Protection Initiative (NKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment.
The project "Ambitious City Promises - Climate-friendly urban development in South-East Asian cities" is also about bundling the activities of local civil society actors in the sense of ambitious municipal commitments. The international city network ICLEI is involved in the project of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and supports the development of holistic climate strategies in Hanoi (Vietnam), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Pasig City (Philippines). An important project partner is the government of the Seoul metropolitan region (Korea), which already published an ambitious mitigation plan in 2015. The "Seoul Pledge" envisages greenhouse gas reductions of 25% by 2020 and 40% by 2030 compared to 2005 and defines concrete measures for the sectors of energy, transport, resource management, water, health, urban agriculture and urban planning.
Developer Daniel Manschke from Volterion fills the electrolyte into the battery storage units in the climate quarter of Stadtwerke Herne. Photo: Stadtwerke Herne
Violet, green, blue and yellow - inside the innovative battery storage systems now available in the Climate quarter of the municipal utility company, will be colourful in the future. The electrolyte, which can store up to ten kilowatt hours of self-produced solar power, changes color depending on the state of charge.
Each of the new storage tanks holds 500 litres of the storage liquid. Redox-flow batteries in the cellars of the seven houses. The developers of the Dortmund-based manufacturer Volterion, a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT, installed and filled them themselves in Herne. This is because the climate district is an interesting technical demonstration object for them: Up to now, they have only installed battery storage systems in large-scale projects. In the single-family homes in Sodingen, the battery is only about the size of a two-door wardrobe.
Compared to conventional rechargeable batteries Redox-flow batteries are characterized by high operational reliability and extreme durability. Even a complete discharge does not harm them.
"With the battery, our energy concept of solar system and heat pump is now complete," explains Stephan Becker, project manager at the developer Stadtwerke Herne. "The climate quarter is now entering the home stretch." The final inspection with the future residents is scheduled to take place in about two weeks.
In April of last year, the municipal utility company began construction of the seven modern plus-energy houses. The small car-free model settlement combines the latest storage technology with renewable energy generation. The supply concept varies in individual details. With scientific support, the most efficient combination is to be found after the residents have moved in.
The Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction today announced the Federal Urban Greening Award 2022. This year, the focus is on the topic of "Climate adaptation and quality of life".
Federal Minister Klara Geywitz: "Climate change is a stress test for our cities. We need more trees for a better urban climate, we need soils that can absorb heavy rainfall, we need less sealed land also for more biodiversity and against the heating up of residential neighbourhoods. With the Federal Urban Greening Award 2022, we are honouring the pioneering work that is already shaping the necessary transformation of cities today."
The award recognises best practice examples that show how municipalities can use their urban green spaces to positively influence the urban climate and reduce the negative effects of extreme weather conditions. The award also recognises innovative concepts for climate-adapted and vital urban green spaces that have already been tried and tested. The award is looking for open spaces that can be used by the public and that also meet the other requirements for the use of open spaces in cities and municipalities, including as spaces for recreation and social cohesion and as elements of an attractive network of cycle paths and footpaths. Cities and municipalities in Germany can now apply with their projects. Planning offices, citizens, universities, research institutions, initiatives or associations can participate in cooperation with their municipalities.
Subject to the funds available in the 2022 federal budget, the federal prize is endowed with prize money totalling up to 100,000 euros. In addition to exemplary implemented projects, the courage to experiment with promising new approaches is also rewarded.
An independent jury will decide in June 2022 which projects will be awarded prizes and recognition. It is composed of experts from the fields of garden and landscape architecture, climate adaptation, urban development and urban planning, representatives of the municipal umbrella organisations and from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in Berlin in September 2022.
The Federal Urban Greening Award is an important building block in the implementation of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs' White Paper on Urban Greening. It is supported by the German Association of Cities and Towns, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities and the German Association of Districts. The Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) implements the Federal Urban Greening Award and provides technical support.
We use cookies to optimize our website and services.
Functional
Always active
Technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a particular service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that have not been requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access, which is solely for statistical purposes.Technical storage or access used solely for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary consent from your Internet service provider, or additional records from third parties, information stored or accessed for this purpose cannot generally be used alone to identify you.
Marketing
Technical storage or access is necessary to create user profiles, to send advertising or to track the user on a website or across multiple websites for similar marketing purposes.
