Min. 4:56; Video from 18.02.2020; Ed.: GBG Mannheim
Project Info: http://sdg21.eu/db/quartier-franklin-in-mannheim
Düsseldorf. In North Rhine-Westphalia, an approach was developed in close cooperation between the state government and the EnergyAgency.NRW with the project "100 Climate Protection Housing Estates in NRW", which aims to reduce energy consumption and CO2-emissions from residential buildings. So far, 93 settlement concepts with a total of around 7,000 flats and houses for 17,000 people have been awarded the status of "Climate Protection Settlement NRW" by a commission of experts.
In the 42 climate protection settlements already completed, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies are combined in an exemplary manner and innovative solutions are demonstrated for both new construction and the renovation of existing buildings. Around 6,500 citizens already live in a climate protection settlement in the most populous federal state.
"North Rhine-Westphalia has developed into a very important location in the field of sustainable construction and housing. The project of 100 climate protection housing estates is attracting great interest throughout Europe and shows that with consistent and sustainable planning, affordable projects of energy-efficient construction or renovation can also be implemented. The settlements range from rental housing in apartment buildings to owner-occupied homes and senior housing complexes," says Andreas Gries, the responsible thematic area manager at EnergyAgency.NRW.
All 93 NRW locations on the internet:
www.energieagentur.nrw/klimaschutzsiedlungen
Keywords:
Quarters, Settlements
At least 18 million birds die each year from bird strikes on glass. It is more than disconcerting that the 100,000 to 200,000 victims of wind energy are discussed so intensively, but the main causes of bird deaths are not.
"Glass kills non-specifically, i.e. potentially all bird species, because it is obstructed at almost any flight altitude. It kills birds regardless of species, age, sex and time of day. Studies from the USA prove this. Of course, one can say that birds that occur often ("common species") are naturally affected often, birds that occur rarely not so often, but this is only due to the number of birds present. Many bird stations regularly have glass bird strike victims from a wide variety of species: birds of prey, woodpeckers (even very often), songbirds, woodcocks, migratory birds, site-faithful birds... simply everything ... up to a stork where the collision was even observed live," says Dr. Judith Förster, project manager of the BUND NRW project "Avoiding bird strikes on glass".
Link: www.bund-nrw.de/themen/tiere-pflanzen/vogelschlag-an-glas
Two other major causes of bird population decline:
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Environmental policy, Wildlife/animal friendly construction, Aesthetics / Architecture / Building Culture, Ecology
Osnabrück/Bonn, 30.03.2017: Deutsche Post today put the 1,000th e-bike of its StreetScooter subsidiary into operation in Osnabrück. The delivery bikes, which are electrically assisted up to 25 km/h, have a payload of up to 50 kg and make the work of letter carriers in urban areas much easier. As with the e-cars ("StreetScooter Work"), Deutsche Post delivery staff were involved in the development. The result is an e-bike that has considerable advantages over conventional electric bicycles in terms of ergonomics, efficiency, load distribution and safety standards. For example, instead of three letter containers, four now fit on the bike. The number of e-bikes is to be further increased in the coming years. In addition, Deutsche Post is testing the "E-Trike" from the StreetScooter company with a payload of up to 90 kg in some delivery districts, also for use in letter delivery.
"We are very serious about our climate protection offensive and are very passionate about it," says Jürgen Gerdes, Member of the Board of Management responsible for Deutsche Post DHL Group. "And in addition to the benefits for the environment, there are additional benefits for our employees, whom we equip with the most modern work tools."
Deutsche Post already operates the largest electric fleet in Germany with around 2,500 StreetScooter Work electric vehicles and a total of around 10,500 pedelecs (e-bikes and e-trikes). In the medium term, the Group intends to replace its entire delivery fleet with electric vehicles.
The e-mobility offensive is part of the ambitious environmental programme GoGreenThe Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to reduce all logistics-related emissions to net zero by 2050. One of the four sub-goals on the way to achieving this is to improve people's quality of life at the local level by 2025 through clean transport solutions.
To this end, the Group wants to switch 70 per cent of its own collection and delivery to clean solutions, for example by bicycle or electric vehicles.
Source: PM Deutsche Post DHL Group
Keywords:
DE-News, Climate protection, eMobility
Over the past four years, the power grid on the North Sea island of Borkum has served as a real laboratory for testing elements of a future-proof energy system. Central to this was the development of energy storage systems and their networked operation within a virtual power plant. The measures were funded by the EU project NETfficient from January 2015 to December 2018. 13 partners from 7 EU member states worked together.
Forty private houses, five large buildings, part of the Borkum street lighting and the temperature control of the Borkum Seawater Aquarium were connected to PV and energy storage systems, which range from lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors and recycled old batteries from electric vehicles to hydrogen storage and low-temperature water storage. A 1 MW / 500 kWh large-scale storage system consisting of lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors was also used in the medium-voltage grid. All these storages and generators were connected to the so-called Energy Management Platform (a Distributed Energy Management System or DERMS), which is the central element of NETfficient. The Energy Management Platform allows the automated operation of the generators and storages and optimizes the energy consumption on the one hand and allows the provision of system services on the other hand.
The various visits to the island of Borkum were enriching for all project partners, who gained insights into life and living there, as well as into the interests and concerns of the island's inhabitants. They found an island community that has an above-average understanding of the challenges of the energy transition and climate change and that has its sights firmly set on the goal of becoming climate-neutral and emission-free by 2030.
On a technical level, this was an extremely complex project that required close coordination between the individual partners, most of whom did not even know each other before the project began. Participation in the project allowed partners from academia and research, industry and SMEs to deepen and exchange their knowledge and skills in a wide range of areas such as energy storage, power electronics, network technology, energy conversion and software. Several partners were able to increase the technological maturity of their products and improve their offer to customers within the framework of the project. For some, the project collaboration led to new orders or projects. Project coordinator Ayesa Advanced Technologies SA (Spain) comments:
"NETfficient was a key project for Ayesa's innovation strategy. It allowed the company to develop new energy solutions with outstanding market potential and established strong collaborations with European partners in the energy and storage value chains. We thank all NETfficient partners for their intensive work on this ambitious project and great community spirit in working towards the project goals."
The most important findings from the project are now being summarized in a handbook, which will be published in January. It can be pre-ordered by emailing netfficient.project@gmail.com.
Further information on the project can also be found at www.netfficient-project.eu. In NETfficient, the Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum took over the administrative and financial project management, the dissemination and exploitation of the project results, the communication and supports the market introduction.
NETfficient is coordinated by Ayesa Advanced Technologies S.A. in cooperation with 12 partners: Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia; Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Cagliari; Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE; PowerTech Systems; Schneider Electric GmbH; Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum; Swerea IVF (from ; Vandenborre Energy Systems NV; Williams Advanced Engineering; Wirtschaftsbetriebe der Stadt Borkum GmbH; Zigor Research&Development; and follower-partner Ayuntamiento de Santander City Council's Information and Communications Department. The project is co-funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Project No. 646463.
Website:
www.netfficient-project.eu
Keywords:
DE-News, Energy storage, Renewable, News Blog Lower Saxony, Electricity storage
