Documentary (2015) "Who owns the city" Heliosgelände Cologne
Published
2.35 min, 26.01.2015, broadcast on 5.7.2016 on ZDF
Documentary film by Anna Ditges
When a major investor announces plans to build a shopping mall on a former industrial site in the middle of Cologne-Ehrenfeld, citizens' protests are heard. In her feature film "WEM GEHÖRT DIE STADT - Bürger in Bewegung" (90 min., 2014), filmmaker Anna Ditges tells of an existential confrontation between people with very different, often incompatible lifestyles and values on the Helios site in Cologne. "In the tension between commitment, self-interest and the creation of meaning, it explores the question of how democracy can function in everyday life and how much political responsibility one's own home means to each individual."
This is what the mayors of Mexico City, Paris, Athens and Madrid decided at the C40 meeting at a climate protection meeting of major international cities in Mexico City. They want to "do everything in their power to promote the use of electric and hybrid cars". In addition, more money is to be invested in the expansion of public transport and cycle paths.
Behind the meeting is the Group C40, short for Climate Leadership Group. In the beginning, there were 40 cities committed to climate protection - now there are more than 80. According to their own figures, they have a combined population of more than 600 million, i.e. almost one tenth of the world's population.
The taz publishes an interview on the topic with the mobility expert Paco Seguro (Chief coordinator of the Spanish environmental organisation Ecologistas en Acción) on 3.12.2016, in which it is explained how it should work: www.taz.de/Oekologe-ueber-dieselfreie-Innenstadt/!5359282
In the context of the Green Deal, the EU's tightened targets on the path to climate neutrality envisage a reduction in CO2 emissions of 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. Against the background of these tightened parameters, the question arises as to the impact on the energy transition in Germany. Based on its energy system model REMod, Fraunhofer ISE has calculated the consequences of the new EU targets for the expansion of renewable energies in Germany and now presents the results in a short study.
In February 2020, Fraunhofer ISE presented the study "Pathways to a Climate-Neutral Energy System - The Energy Transition in the Context of Societal Behaviour", which investigated the influence of societal behaviour on possible transformation paths of the German energy system towards an almost complete reduction of energy-related CO2-emissions in the year 2050. The calculations carried out with the REMod energy system model were based on the targets set by the German government at the time of preparation, i.e. a reduction in German CO2-emissions by 55% in 2030 and 95% in 2050 compared to 1990.
In response to the tightening of the European targets from 40% to 55% by 2030, which has now been implemented as part of the European Green Deal, the Institute has recalculated. The transformation paths for Germany considered in the February study were revised with a view to reducing Germany's CO2-emissions of 65% in 2030 and complete climate neutrality of the energy system in 2050. The scientists from Freiburg recalculated all scenarios of their study from February (reference, insistence on conventional technologies, unacceptance of large infrastructure measures, sufficiency). As an additional aspect, they added an investigation of the sensitivity for import prices of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels. The short study mainly considers the reference scenario in order to be able to go into more detail on the changes caused by the target tightening. However, the study also identifies corridors for the expansion of a variety of technologies that can be derived from different scenarios. In the case of photovoltaics and wind, annual additions of 10-14 GW and 9 GW respectively are required by 2030 in order to achieve sufficient CO2-free electricity for Germany.
"The update of our energy end-use study shows that achieving the climate protection targets, even with a greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than previously assumed, is feasible from a technical and systemic point of view, albeit with greater efforts," says Dr Christoph Kost, head of the Energy Systems and Energy Economics Group and author of the short study. "A target tightening of energy-related CO2-emissions leads to a higher direct or indirect use of renewably generated electricity in the consumption sectors. This in turn requires a much greater expansion of wind and solar power generation facilities." Furthermore, the short study shows that the expansion of fluctuating renewable energies requires a strong expansion of system flexibility.
If we want to achieve a reduction in CO2emissions by 65% by 2030, battery-electric vehicles must account for 30-35% of passenger transport in the mobility sector, for example. In a climate-neutral energy system by 2050, conventional internal combustion engines will be virtually eliminated from passenger car transport as well as from freight transport.
"Heat pumps - used in households or to supply district heating networks - must become a key technology for heat supply with immediate effect," says Institute Director Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Henning, summarising the results for the building sector. With a view to the CO2-avoidance costs, he adds: "The tightening of the target used here leads to an increase in CO2-avoidance costs. However, these depend to a large extent on the development of final energy demand."
Link to the study "Pathways to a climate-neutral energy system - The energy transition in the context of societal behaviour", February 2020, update December 2020:
Adjusted for inflation, construction volume will decline in 2022 - Price development and rising interest rates will continue to have a severe impact on the construction industry in the years to come - New residential construction will slump more than the overall construction volume - Policymakers will have to change their strategy in order to achieve their goals for the creation of new housing and energy-efficient building renovation in the medium term
Inflation and supply bottlenecks have stopped the construction boom in Germany: In 2022, real construction volume declined for the first time in many years, by around two percent. Similar declines are expected this year as well. Only in 2024 will the construction volume, adjusted for inflation, be back in the black. Residential construction in particular is disproportionately affected by the decline. This is the result of the current calculations of the construction volume, which are prepared annually by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).
Although the construction volume rose by a record-breaking 13.6 percent last year in nominal terms, i.e. in current prices, the increase is solely due to the rapid rise in construction prices. Although this gave the construction companies good sales, adjusted for inflation, construction activity fell by two percent. The urgently needed new housing construction was and is particularly affected, which was even down 4.5 per cent in real terms. "For many years, residential construction has always grown faster than the overall construction volume. Now there are signs of a trend reversal, especially in new construction, which policymakers must take into account," says study author Laura Pagenhardt.
Change in strategy called for
The federal government's goal of building 400,000 new flats per year is thus becoming a distant prospect. Already in the last two years, no more than 300,000 flats have been built. This year and next, the study authors expect that worsening financing conditions and political uncertainty will make investors even more cautious. However, construction prices are likely to rise less sharply due to the easing of supply chains and declining capacity utilisation. "Adjusted for inflation, the construction volume will probably still be negative this year and will only be positive again from 2024, but even then residential construction, especially new construction, is likely to lag behind the overall development," expects study author Martin Gornig.
"What is needed is a master plan that not only supports demand with long-term funding programmes, but also counteracts the bottlenecks in supply" Martin Gornig
He therefore calls for a change in strategy. Although the federal government has already decided on measures to promote housing construction through taxation, it must focus more on redensification of existing buildings in order to create affordable new housing, especially in urban areas. At the same time, there is a danger that a large part of the subsidies, especially for energy-efficient building renovation, will evaporate into rising prices if the supply side is not strengthened in addition to the demand side. According to Gornig, what is needed is a master plan that not only supports demand with long-term subsidy programmes. In addition, it must increasingly promote the expansion of planning, production and installation capacities in order to counteract bottlenecks in supply and thus price increases.
The Ministry of Energy plans to increase the performance contribution for solar power plants up to 30 kilowatts in the coming year. This is intended to enable significantly more private roofs to be used for solar power generation in the future.
The increase in subsidies for 2021 from an additional 46 million Swiss francs to then 422 million is intended to counteract the impending collapse in the addition of new PV systems caused by the Corona crisis.
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