At the proposal of the Federal Environment Ministry, the Federal Cabinet adopted the third German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess III) on 17 June 2020. With this programme, the government aims to achieve an economical use of raw materials. Companies in particular are to use natural resources more efficiently along the entire value chain. Greater use is to be made of digital solutions to increase resource efficiency. The decision in favour of resource-saving products is to be made easier for citizens through improved information.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "A secure supply of raw materials is essential for the German economy. The Corona crisis with its impact on supply chains and raw materials markets has made this clear to us. Tomorrow's economy needs a push for more resource efficiency. Companies and consumers are equally challenged here. It is about using the opportunities of digital technologies for more prosperity and competitiveness, social justice and an intact environment. With its guiding idea of gradually making economic and production methods in Germany less dependent on primary raw materials, ProgRess makes an important contribution to making the German economy more crisis-proof."
Digitalisation contributes significantly to the increased consumption of raw materials. This is illustrated by the increasing spread of smartphones and tablets as well as the growing demand for server services. At the same time, digitalisation offers solutions, as the Federal Ministry for the Environment has also made clear in its environmental digital agenda: Thanks to ever faster processing of process data, production can be better controlled and the use of raw materials more efficient. ProgRess III is therefore devoting a new focus to digitalisation with measures for resource efficiency in the area of Industry 4.0 and data centres. Companies are supported in designing and producing products in a resource-efficient manner in the future. During the manufacturing, use and disposal phases, products should in future use a minimum of material, water and energy and still fulfil their function.
Not only in production, but also in consumer behaviour, digitalisation has so far been driving the increasing consumption of resources. Online trade, for example, has become an important segment of the retail trade today, with growth rates of around ten percent annually. Therefore, ProgRess III also focuses on raising awareness among the population, in everyday areas such as "working and living", "mobility" and "informing and communicating". Here, durability and quality are to become central selling points. Consumers should receive transparent, reliable, comparable, verifiable and easily understandable information for their purchasing decisions. The German Resource Efficiency Programme III focuses in particular on market incentives, information, advice, education, research and innovation as well as on strengthening voluntary measures and initiatives in business and society. The spectrum of topics covered by the 119 measures ranges from ecological due diligence obligations in raw material supply chains to the reparability of products, advisory services for companies and standardisation and certification systems for recyclates to investments in public transport and eco-labels for resource-efficient software.
In addition to an intensive consultation process with the federal states, associations and other social actors, extensive citizen participation was also carried out as part of the development of ProgRess III. Based on the results of this dialogue, citizens formulated a Citizens' Advice on resource conservation, which was integrated into ProgRess III.
Further information on ProgRess III can be found at HERE>
Timber construction can be cheaper than standard construction - At the same time significantly better CO2 balance
MNP Architects Munich, School Wangen
Current comparative calculations based on realized new buildings in timber construction show: Building with wood does not have to be more expensive than the standard construction method. This result is surprising, as it contradicts the common perception that timber construction is more expensive. At the same time, the CO2 balance of timber construction is significantly better; as a result, its CO2 avoidance costs are very favourable, in some cases even negative. An expansion of timber construction would therefore be climate protection at comparatively low cost.
The architect and developer of the Legep construction software, Holger König, has balanced the construction costs and CO2 emissions for the production of five public and private timber buildings and compared them with the results that would have been produced for the same buildings if they had been built in the conventional way. Legep can be used to calculate the manufacturing and life-cycle costs, energy requirements and environmental impact of buildings. In this case, König only looked at manufacturing. For the prices, he used current sirAdos data, which represent the market very realistically. He then went to the trouble that many architects, civil engineers and building owners shy away from: He modeled the buildings with the same area and cubature and the same energy standard, but replaced the wooden components with conventional materials - depending on the building project, solid masonry in brick, sand-lime brick or aerated concrete, or a column-beam supporting structure made of reinforced concrete. He used reinforced concrete for the floor slab, cellar, ceilings and flat roofs, mineral wool or polystyrene for the insulation, and plastic or aluminum frames for the windows. König explains the fact that four out of five buildings in timber construction cost less or the same as in standard construction with the industrial-technical development that many timber construction companies have undergone in recent years. Two of the timber buildings even achieved a negative CO2 balance in the manufacturing phase due to the large amount of renewable raw materials used, which act as carbon stores. In the other three buildings, a slightly higher proportion of non-wooden components, which every timber building also contains, caused the slightly positive CO2 balance.
If one relates the difference in CO2 savings to the difference in construction costs, one obtains the CO2 avoidance costs of timber construction. Negative abatement costs here mean that the builder has saved costs with timber construction compared to standard construction and at the same time protected the climate.
By increasing the proportion of timber construction, more climate protection can be achieved at low or even negative costs, while at the same time strengthening rural areas. The green-red state government in Baden-Württemberg has recognised this and created more favourable framework conditions for the building material in its state building code, which was amended on 1 March (information here). In contrast, some state building codes still contain legal obstacles to building with wood.
The city of Munich also wants to convince more builders to use timber construction: as part of its "Munich Energy Saving Promotion Programme", it has been granting a CO2 bonus for the use of timber and other renewable raw materials in building construction of 30 cents/kg since 2013 (information here).
A high insulation standard with insulating materials made from renewable raw materials is also a contribution to climate protection. The plant raw materials from which the insulating materials were obtained have bound CO2 from the atmosphere, which is now stored in the building material for long periods of time. And finally, heating based on renewable energies also reduces CO2 emissions.
The Agency of Renewable Resources (Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.). (FNR) funded the determination of LCA baseline data for the Legep programme with funds from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) between 2004 and 2006.
The Federal Cabinet today adopted the so-called Easter Package at the proposal of Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck. This is the largest amendment to energy policy legislation in decades. The Easter Package comprehensively amends various energy laws in order to accelerate and consistently drive forward the expansion of renewable energies.
Robert Habeck on this: "The Easter package is the accelerator for the expansion of renewable energies. We will almost double the share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption within less than a decade. We are tripling the speed of renewable expansion - on water, on land and on the roof. In the future, renewable energies will be in the public interest and serve public security. This is crucial to increase the pace. Overall, with the Easter Package we are creating the conditions for Germany's energy security and energy sovereignty. At the same time, it lays the foundations for Germany to become climate neutral."
Habeck further explained: "The Easter Package is part of our agenda and has been worked on under high pressure over the past months. It has now taken on a double urgency in view of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, which is contrary to international law. On the one hand, the climate crisis is coming to a head. On the other hand, Russia's invasion shows how important it is to get out of fossil fuels and to consistently push ahead with the expansion of renewables. We are doing this courageously and consistently.
The Easter package adopted today by the Federal Cabinet will now be forwarded to the German Bundestag and will enter the parliamentary legislative process in a next step. It is an article law, which comprises the following individual laws on more than 500 pages:
the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG),
the Wind Energy at Sea Act (WindSeeG),
the Energy Industry Act (EnWG),
the Federal Requirements Plan Act (BBPlG),
The Transmission Grid Expansion Acceleration Act (NABEG)
other laws and ordinances in energy law.
What concrete measures does the Easter package contain?
At the heart of the package is the principle that the use of renewable energies is in the overriding public interest and serves public safety. The expansion of renewable energies on land and at sea is raised to a completely new level. By 2030, at least 80 percent of Germany's gross electricity consumption is to be sourced from renewables.
Extensive measures are being taken to promote the expansion of renewable energy. For example, new areas are being made available for the expansion of photovoltaics, the participation of municipalities in onshore wind and photovoltaics is being expanded, low-wind locations are being developed more intensively and the framework conditions for the expansion of photovoltaic roof systems are being improved.
In future, the expansion of offshore wind energy is to be based on two equal pillars. In addition to the tendering of areas that have already been pre-surveyed, areas that have not yet been pre-surveyed will also be tendered in future.
The expansion of renewable energies and the grids will be accelerated by removing obstacles and streamlining planning and approval procedures.
The federal requirement plan for the expansion of the transmission grids is being updated and new projects are being included so that the grids can keep pace with the expansion of renewable energies.
With the abolition of the EEGAt the same time, the regulations for self-consumption and the privileged treatment of industry are enormously simplified and a major contribution is made to reducing the bureaucracy of energy law.
The rights of end customers and the Federal Network Agency's supervisory options over energy suppliers are strengthened in order to protect electricity and gas consumers even better in the future.
An overview paper on the Easter Package and the draft laws can be found at here.
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