3:28 min.
Project Info: http://sdg21.eu/db/limnologen-vaexjoe
Renewable energies accounted for 16.7 per cent of total energy consumption in the EU in 2015. This is almost twice as much as a decade earlier. Compared to the previous year, the share rose by 0.6 percentage points, as the statistics authority Eurostat announced on Tuesday. In 2004, when data was first available, the figure was just 8.5 per cent. In 2015, Sweden was ahead with 53.9 per cent, while renewable energies had the smallest share in Luxembourg and Malta with 5 per cent each. The aim is to achieve a total of 20 per cent across the EU by 2020. (ap)
Keywords:
Renewable, News Blog Europe (without DE), PV, Solar thermal, Environmental policy, Ecology
The "Alternative Economic Policy Working Group" has published its MEMORANDUM 2018 report.
Price of the "black zero": distribution deficits and gaps in supply
Germany, with its senseless ideology of austerity and cuts, has not yet arrived economically in the 21st century. The small-minded hucksterism in the ruling policy is also slowing down the recovery in the European Union and the Eurozone.
The Memorandum 2018 shows urgently needed alternatives to the economically narrow-minded "zero policy". In Germany, the focus must be on strengthening domestic demand and thus on higher incomes for dependent employees and more government spending. The state share is significantly too low. In Europe, it must be about cooperation instead of blind competition. Prof. Dr. Heinz-J. Bontrup explains: "Germany's current account surpluses have been and are being generated at the expense of dependent employees and are therefore counterproductive and dangerous. Germany's chronic current account surpluses are by no means a healthy indicator of competitiveness. Rather, they are the result of domestic economic imbalances. Permanently and senselessly, much more is produced in Germany than is consumed, while important domestic economic sectors such as infrastructure, care, education and the Affordable housing on the basis of public housing are criminally neglected.
Millions of precarious jobs have led to poverty wages and later to poverty in old age. Frustrated, many citizens are turning away from established politics. National ideas that are hyper-dangerous for democracy are becoming more and more popular. Prof. Dr. Mechthild Schrooten explains: "The demand for an unconditional basic income shows how many people feel that working life has no prospects. In fact, a basic income that is resistant to poverty is not an option in purely mathematical terms.
What is urgently needed is better participation in the labour market. "Contrary to the manipulated official statistics, mass unemployment with a growing number of precarious poverty work still characterises society," says Heinz-J. Bontrup. Reducing working hours with full wage and staff compensation is therefore urgently needed and would be easily financed against the background of an overall rich Germany. Last year alone, Germany produced over 2.3 trillion euros in distributable value added. The distribution issue is the core problem in Germany. "A lot of capital in the hands of a few also means that the financial markets no longer function; risks are again accumulating more intensely here," explains Mechthild Schrooten.
Against this background, the Alternative Economic Policy Working Group is focusing on strategies that put a definitive end to the redistribution from the bottom to the top. Economic growth must reach everyone. Wages must rise, working hours must be shortened and the welfare state must be expanded instead of dismantled. To finance this, taxes must rise sharply. In the past, the much-lamented national debt was mainly caused by taxes that were too low. Therefore, the top tax rate and corporate taxes must be increased. In addition, a one-time wealth tax must be levied and the immediate reintroduction of the wealth tax must be implemented. This can then be used to finance, in addition to additional national debt, a public investment programme of at least 120 billion euros. Last but not least, and once again, the Alternative Economic Policy Working Group calls for a democratisation of the economy. The 40 million dependent employees in Germany must finally have a say in the economy, on an equal footing with capital.
Website with pdf downloads:
www.alternative-wirtschaftspolitik.de/...memorandum_2018
taz article:
http://taz.de/Alternativer-Wirtschaftsbericht/!5497450/
Keywords:
Stakeholders, DE-News, Media, New books and studies, Housing policy, Economics
International agreements and implementation programmes to limit climate change will take account of the importance of cities in the CO2-reduction, as solutions that are primarily aimed at the national level dominate. Nevertheless, in some countries, national climate protection targets and declarations of intent (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions - INDCs) are already being consistently broken down to regions and cities.
Publication download of the study (PDF, 4MB, file is barrier-free⁄barrier-free)
Keywords:
Climate protection, News Blog Europe (without DE), Quarters, Settlements
"The raw material wood is precious. It is therefore important to use it responsibly and in a way that conserves resources," warns Peter Aicher, Chairman of Holzbau Deutschland. Even if wood is affected by environmental influences or the bark beetle, it does not represent an inferior raw material, but has almost identical properties to conventional construction timber. "If the so-called 'calamity wood' has the same structural quality in terms of load-bearing capacity as conventional sawn timber, it can be used without restrictions," explains Aicher. In addition, the wood retains its important function as a CO2 sink, regardless of external impairments.
"If the wood is used as a building material, the carbon bound in the wood remains stored there in the long term, thereby significantly reducing the burden on the environment."
The goal must be an economically and ecologically sensible and efficient use of the domestic resource. In the interests of sustainability and climate protection, regional wood resources should therefore be used optimally.
Calamity wood is of high quality and can be used without restrictions
In most cases, bark beetle infestation is irrelevant for the use of the wood as a building material. The bark beetle lays its burrows in the bast, i.e. the area between the bark (bark) and the trunk, but not in the load-bearing wood itself. In addition, the sawn timber is technically dried during further processing. During this process at the latest, any remaining populations of insect pests are reliably killed off, so that beetle-free timber processed into sawn timber is guaranteed to be beetle-free. Every piece of sawn timber - regardless of its origin - must meet the criteria of DIN standard 4074 in order to be used as load-bearing timber in a building. In some cases, the wood turns a slightly bluish colour after a bark beetle infestation. It can then be used in the non-visible area.
Environmental factors and the effects of climate change have further facilitated the mass spread of the bark beetle in the past year. In most cases, rapid felling of the affected trees is the only alternative to stop the further spread of the pest. The logs are immediately removed from the forest and stored. This results in an oversupply of so-called 'beetle wood'. The prompt further processing of the calamity wood into sawn timber is an active contribution to climate protection.
Holzbau Deutschland appeals to the public sector as well as to architects and builders to make greater use of regional calamity wood and to specify this in tenders. The use of domestic calamity wood not only supports regional value creation, but is also a sign of solidarity with regional forest owners.
Source: Holzbau Deutschland-PM from 5.3.2021
Keywords:
Building materials / Construction, Procurement, DE-News, Wood construction, Climate protection, NaWaRohs, Sustainable management, Quarters, Resource efficiency, Settlements, City, Housing
