Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl is in demand worldwide as a source of inspiration for urban redevelopment. He explains what Stuttgart can do in the face of increasing traffic and environmental problems and why he thinks nothing of self-driving cars.
At the meeting of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder (KMK) in Berlin on 17 and 18 October, the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder adopted a joint declaration on the United Nations' Education 2030 Agenda (SDG 4).
In the declaration, the KMK underlines "the high degree of agreement between the education policies of the Länder and the goals of the Education 2030 Agenda, whose core goals - participation, equal opportunities, quality of education and lifelong learning - are the subject of intensive education policy efforts by the Länder". The comprehensive concept of education, which underlies the 2030 Agenda Education as well as the German education system, promotes the development of the individual personality and a free, democratic and sustainable society in equal measure. The KMK refers to the numerous education policy measures and initiatives of the Länder in the fields of action of the Agenda. The international exchange under the umbrella of UNESCO and other international organisations offers the opportunity to receive valuable suggestions for the development of one's own strategies and to present one's own good practice to other countries. The KMK affirms that it will "continue its commitment to the goals contained in the 2030 Agenda for Education together with national and international partners in the future".
The President of the German Commission for UNESCO, Prof. Dr Maria Böhmer, welcomes the KMK's declaration: "Worldwide economic progress in harmony with social justice and within the Earth's ecological limits - this is what the 17 Global Sustainability Goals of the United Nations are geared towards. Education is both a goal and a key factor in achieving all the goals. Global challenges can only be solved together. That is why the commitment of the countries to the Education 2030 Agenda is essential. With their commitment to equitable and quality education for all, the countries are making an important contribution to the global community.
In 2015, the member states of the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which describe the central future tasks of humanity. Global Sustainable Development Goal 4, differentiated by the 2030 Agenda for Education, calls for "ensuring inclusive, equitable and quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030". UNESCO coordinates the implementation of the Education 2030 Agenda at the international level.
Electric cars with E-plates will be allowed to park free of charge in municipal parking lots in Bonn in the future. This was decided by the Council in its meeting on Thursday, 22 September. It thus followed a draft resolution of the administration for the implementation of the Electromobility Act. In addition, parking spaces are to be set up at charging stations for e-cars and the charging infrastructure is to be further expanded in coordination with the Stadtwerke Bonn.
Read the complete press release here www.bonn.de/rat_verwaltung_buergerdienste/presseportal/pressemitteilungen/31844/index.html?lang=de
The Paris Climate Agreement has given renewable energies and energy efficiency a global tailwind. The Climate Protection Index 2017 presented today by Germanwatch shows a stable upward trend. Overall, however, the global energy transition is still proceeding too slowly to make its contribution to the Paris climate goals, warns the environment and development organisation Germanwatch. The election of Donald Trump as US president could slow down or even slow down the necessary transformation in the USA.
Overall, the twelfth edition of the Climate Protection Index gives cause for cautious optimism: "The conditions for a global energy transition have never been better than at present. This is mainly due to the further decreasing costs of renewable energies and efficiency technologies," says Jan Burck of Germanwatch, lead author of the Index. "Investments in fossil energies are becoming increasingly risky. There are no longer any understandable excuses for governments to hesitate in implementing the Paris climate agreement. Some states have recognised this, others have not yet caught up."
To the Climate Protection Index:
The Climate Protection Index (currently the twelfth edition in a row) was developed as an instrument for more transparency and comparability in international climate policy. Based on standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58 countries, which together are responsible for more than 90% of energy-related emissions worldwide. The first three places have remained vacant every year so far, as no country is doing enough to prevent dangerous climate change. Denmark was on the verge of becoming the first country to break into the top 3. This was prevented by the recent shift to a much less ambitious climate policy (More on methods and calculation in the brochure "The Climate Change Performance Index - Background and Methodology").
Climate Protection Index 2017 (in English, summary in German as well as maps and graphics): https://germanwatch.org/ksi
However, the regulatory framework remains unsuitable for the widespread market deployment of energy storage systems.
The industry figures published annually by BVES show a fundamentally positive development in retrospect for 2020 and in the forecast for 2021. Across all technologies and segments, sales in the energy storage industry grew by over 10 percent to EUR 7.1 billion in 2020.
The growth drivers are the trends towards system integration, flexible sector coupling and electromobility, particularly in the household and commercial sectors. 300,000 home storage units alone are now installed in households and ensure a secure self-supply of green energy in the electricity, heating and mobility sectors. 300,000 home storage units provide 2.3 GWh of green electricity, enough for the annual washing of more than 20,000 households or to drive an e-car around the world more than 170 times.
Urban Windelen, Federal Managing Director BVES: "An addition of over 100,000 home storage units alone in one year is a great result. And at the same time a clear signal that citizens in households, commerce and industry increasingly want to rely on storage technologies to make their energy supply secure, green and cost-efficient. Politicians should finally listen to this signal and provide the highly innovative German storage industry with a suitable framework for its products. Relying solely on grid expansion and squeezing people into an outdated energy system will not be enough for a successful energy transition."
While the household segment was able to grow disproportionately in the Corona year 2020, the industrial and commercial storage segment suffered a decline of around 20 percent due to the pandemic. Germany also continues to evade the international trend towards the increased use of large-scale storage in the system infrastructure. This market segment is stagnating at a low level. The trend towards hydrogen solutions finds a difficult environment in Germany, so that market applications on an industrial scale cannot (yet) establish themselves. In contrast, thermal storage systems are developing well and are increasingly being used in industry in particular, contributing to decarbonisation.
Overall, the industry expects a significant recovery of the storage market in the industrial segment in 2021. The drivers here are flexible sector coupling in the direction of heat, the trend towards electromobility with clever charging solutions including storage, and self-supply solutions with green electricity to green hydrogen.
"Without energy storage, the energy transition is missing something. This is becoming increasingly obvious. Technically, the industry can do pretty much anything. Various technologies for all sectors and all applications are ready and operational. Now all that needs to be done is to finally release the regulatory brakes. Especially if we want to secure and support the domestic technical excellence and high value creation of the industry in Germany and Europe." says Urban Windelen.
The BVES industry figures 2021 are available via this link available.
The occasion for the publication is the international conference ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 2021, organized by BVES in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe and EUROSOLAR e.V.. The two-day online conference ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 2021 will feature parallel discussion panels and workshops on current trends in the storage industry.
Source: PM of the Bundesverband Energiespeicher from
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