City of Burg receives award: Tenants' electricity project reduces electricity costs
Published
On 26 April 2017, the Agency for Renewable Energies in Berlin honoured the Saxon-Anhalt town of Burg for its commitment as Energy Municipality of the Month. A tenant power project in the town ensures that 230 tenants can obtain solar power to cover part of their electricity requirements directly from the roof of their apartments. "Tenant power projects are ideal for driving the energy transition locally and involving many citizens at the same time - either by participating financially in the systems or by purchasing green electricity," explains Nils Boenigk, Deputy Managing Director of the Renewable Energy Agency.
As part of the city's first tenant electricity project, the local public utility operates photovoltaic systems with a total output of 283 kilowatts peak on the roofs of ten apartment buildings belonging to a housing cooperative.
The number of CarSharing customers in Germany rose to 2.46 million over the course of last year. Above-average percentage growth was recorded by station-based CarSharing services. Station-based CarSharing also remains the backbone of the expansion in terms of area and is now available at 740 locations in Germany.
At the beginning of 2019, 2.46 million customers in Germany are registered with a car-sharing service, 350,000 more than in the previous year. Station-based car sharing providers are experiencing above-average growth with an increase of 21.5 percent. In free-floating CarSharing, customer growth is slowing somewhat and amounts to 14.9 percent. Overall, CarSharing in Germany continues to be on a clear growth path.
Graphic: bcs
Gunnar Nehrke, Managing Director of Bundesverband CarSharing e.V., comments:
"The positive development in the German CarSharing market over the past years shows: More and more people want to deal responsibly with the resource car and practically shape the traffic turnaround."
The association is particularly pleased with the strong growth in the area of station-based CarSharing services, as several scientific studies had shown in 2018 that this variant has a particularly high traffic-relieving effect. Association Managing Director Nehrke explains:
"In station-based CarSharing, 70 to 80 percent of customers no longer own a car. Cities and municipalities should specifically promote this variant by setting up CarSharing stations in public areas.
In connection with CarSharing funding, the association criticises the Federal Ministry of Transport: "Even one and a half years after the Carsharing Act (CsgG) came into force, cities and municipalities cannot practically apply this law in all points because the Ministry does not present the ordinances that are the basis for it.
Christian Hochfeld, Director of Agora Verkehrswende, explains the current development of CarSharing:
"It is important that CarSharing becomes visible and available in public spaces. However, CarSharing should not be seen as an individual measure, but as an integral part of a municipal mobility strategy. After all, the right traffic policy framework conditions - such as comprehensive parking space management and the expansion of environmental zones - can further strengthen the positive effects of CarSharing services."
Strong growth also on the supply side
20,200 CarSharing vehicles will be available in Germany at the beginning of 2019, 2,250 more than in the previous year. Station-based providers account for more than half of the supply with 11,200 vehicles, while 9,000 vehicles will be used in free-floating CarSharing.
In the "free-floating" market segment, 890 vehicles belong to combined station-based/free-floating offerings. This new form of offering is used by some formerly purely station-based providers in order to be able to offer the advantages of both CarSharing variants from a single source. New combined systems were launched in 2018 in Leipzig and Karlsruhe, for example.
Station-based CarSharing remains the backbone of CarSharing expansion
Graphic: bcs
Station-based CarSharing is currently available at 740 locations in Germany. This is 63 locations more than in the previous year. Pure free-floating services are currently available in seven metropolitan areas and a few surrounding communities of these major cities.
E-share stagnates at a high level, more e-vehicles in the fleets of station-based providers
Graphic: bcs
The number of electric vehicles in the German CarSharing fleet remained almost unchanged in 2018. However, there are shifts in the number of electric vehicles in the individual fleet segments: The number of electric vehicles in the free-floating fleets of car manufacturers remained largely unchanged at 1,025 vehicles. The medium-sized CarSharing providers in the station-based sector were able to increase the number of electric vehicles from 321 to 498.
On the other hand, the operators of pure e-car sharing projects recorded declines. Here, the number of vehicles fell from 431 to 304. This is mainly due to the fact that the period of public funding or the leasing contracts for a high number of vehicles expired in 2018. As the vehicles had not reached the threshold for economic viability, they were removed from the fleet. Gunnar Nehrke explains:
"The electric share in CarSharing is 50 times higher than in the national car fleet. This shows: The providers want to switch to emission-free drives. But the framework conditions are not yet right: the vehicles are still too expensive. And there is still no funding concept for the installation of charging infrastructure at car sharing stations."
Frankfurt/Main (dpa) - The Frankfurt "Rent Decision Alliance submitted around 25,000 signatures to the electoral office on Tuesday. The participants want to achieve a referendum on the preservation and expansion of subsidized housing, as spokespersons for the alliance said before the handover.
The administration must now check whether the necessary quorum - the required number of signatures - has been reached and whether a citizens' petition is admissible. According to its own information, 42 organisations belong to the alliance, including the district association of the Left Party, the Asta of the Goethe University, Attac and several housing and urban policy initiatives.
They have three demands: The city-owned housing company ABG should only create subsidized housing; all tenants entitled to social housing should pay a maximum of 6.50 euros per square meter; prices per square meter of a maximum of 6.50 euros should apply in two-thirds of all ABG apartments that become vacant.
The Federal Cabinet has adopted the Climate Protection Plan 2050 presented by Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks (SPD) by circular resolution. It is based on the guiding principle of largely neutral greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century. For the year 2030, it confirms the overall target of a greenhouse gas reduction of at least 55 percent compared to 1990. At the same time, this overall target is broken down to individual sectors for the first time. The plan thus provides clear orientation for all sectors.
Link
www.bmub.bund.de/...klimaschutzplan_2050_bf.pdf
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