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.
In Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest tenant electricity project in Germany is currently running with subsidised funding from the so-called tenant electricity surcharge under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). The project, which was supported by EnergyAgency.NRW following an initial consultation, supplies 24 social housing apartments in three multi-storey buildings with a total of 75 residents with electricity. For this purpose, all roof surfaces were covered with photovoltaic modules with a total output of 86.9 kWp. The PV system is completed by six Powerwall 2 battery storage units from Tesla. "The tenants have committed 100 per cent to the project. In addition, the PV electricity, insofar as it is not consumed by the water-to-water heat pump or the tenants, is first stored in electricity storage units. This works so efficiently that we already reached an average self-sufficiency level of 83 percent in May. On isolated days and nights, even 98 percent," explains Frank Scholzen from Scholzen Immobilien, the company that owns the properties.
In rental electricity projects, electricity is generated in a rented property - by PV and/or combined heat and power (CHP) units. This direct electricity is often sold by the operator of the plant to the local energy supplier or - as in Troisdorf - by the landlord to the tenants. "The electricity offered to the tenants is cheaper than electricity from the grid. The advantage for the system operator is an additional income opportunity, as well as an ecologically sustainable electricity supply," explains Wilhelm Schröder from EnergyAgency.NRW, who accompanied the project in an advisory capacity.
However, the three buildings of Scholzen Immobilien are not only characterised by an innovative power supply, Troisdorf is also future-proof in the area of heat: The heating system consists of two water-water heat pumps with a combined thermal output of 76 kW. The well depth is only 14 metres - thanks to the high groundwater level not far from the Rhine. Scholzen: "The smart meters supplied by the Aachen-based company Discovergy enable continuous monitoring of the energy flows between the PV system, heat pump, energy storage and main meter."
In this complex and demanding project, many parties have to be coordinated. In Troisdorf, the following were involved:
Priogo AG from Zülpich (specialist partner for photovoltaics, heating technology, electromobility)
Discovergy GmbH from Aachen (smart metering systems)
Stadtwerke Troisdorf GmbH (distribution system operator)
Westfalen Group from Münster (residual electricity supplier)
Vaillant Group from Remscheid (manufacturer of the heat pumps) and Geotechnik GmbH from Wesseling (well drilling company)
In the meantime, the company Scholzen Immobilien is planning another tenant power project in Düsseldorf.
By the end of April 2018, a total of 19 tenant power projects subsidised under the EEG with an installed capacity of more than 350 kWp had been realised in NRW. The EnergyAgency.NRW has published a brochure entitled "Mieterstrom - kurz erklärt" (Tenant Electricity - Explained in Brief), which presents in detail the technical and legal aspects that need to be considered when implementing projects.
From September, UrStrom eG will offer its e-car sharing users a customer-friendly cooperative booking app. The goal is a common e-car sharing platform for energy cooperatives throughout Europe.
Mainz, 23.08.2019 Select, book and open electric cars with your smartphone. These are the functions of the cooperative booking app "e-Carsharing in Bürgerhand", which the UrStrom BürgerEnergieGenossenschaft in Mainz is the first German energy cooperative to use. "The smartphone becomes the car key," says Klaus Grieger, project manager for electromobility at UrStrom eG. The four-language booking app has already been in use for some time at energy cooperatives in Belgium and Spain. "The app is extremely practical," says Klaus Grieger enthusiastically.
After UrStrom eG, other energy cooperatives in Rhineland-Palatinate will use the booking app. "We first want to optimise the app regionally for use in Germany so that we can then attract energy cooperatives throughout Germany to use the joint platform," says Dr Verena Ruppert, Managing Director of Landesnetzwerk Bürgerenergiegenossenschaften Rheinland-Pfalz e. V. (LaNEG) e.V. There are currently eight energy cooperatives working in LaNEG's e-car sharing working group that want to launch local e-car sharing projects or are already doing so. Energy cooperatives can also use the cooperative app to offer companies and municipalities needs-based e-carsharing solutions. The booking platform is the first step towards establishing the cooperative brand "e-Carsharing in Bürgerhand" throughout Germany.
At the end of 2018, citizen energy cooperatives from four European countries founded The Mobility Factory (TMF) as an umbrella cooperative of European e-carsharing cooperatives. TMF provides a professional e-carsharing platform to its members. Currently, all TMF members can use the booking app as licensees and participate in the further development of the system. In the future, the entire value chain in e-car sharing will be in the hands of the cooperatives and thus be user-oriented and independent of purely profit-oriented corporate structures. "The use and further development will remain in the hands of citizens, in the democratic structures of cooperatives," says Michael König, Chairman of TMF.
Currently, about 100 electric vehicles are in use at member cooperatives in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In three years, there should be at least 1800 vehicles available to all users of cooperative e-car sharing across Europe.
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