Federal prizes for timber construction plus awarded
Published
For the third time, the BMEL honoured innovative and pioneering construction projects that made significant use of wood and other renewable raw materials. A ten-member jury selected eight outstanding construction projects and a further 12 special competition entries from a total of 127 submissions. The eight winners in the new construction and refurbishment categories were each awarded prize money of €6,000 by the BMEL. The builders of the 12 special buildings received an unendowed honourable mention.
The jury's assessment focused on the exemplary function and character of the realised building projects. The winners demonstrate holistic concepts with excellent use of renewable raw materials in construction, insulation and finishing.
All winning projects are listed in the Winner brochure of the BMEL.
21 November 2019. Today, the Federal Ministry of Transport, together with the federal states and local authorities, is establishing an alliance for modern mobility. The aim is to create more space for environmentally friendly means of transport.
This also includes the rapid expansion of cycling in accordance with the climate package of the Federal Government. The bicycle club ADFC is represented with a keynote speech. ADFC Federal Executive Director Burkhard Stork assures mayors of full support in the expected land conflicts.
ADFC National Director Burkhard Stork said in the run-up to the event: „From 2020, for the first time there will be real money from the federal government to finance high-quality cycle path networks, cycle bridges and cycle parking facilities in the municipalities. To make sure that this money gets to the roads quickly, mayors and their administrations must start planning now - and build really good cycle paths from 2021 at the latest. As everywhere else in the world, there will be conflicts when it comes to redistributing road space. This is where it is important to show attitude and leadership, dear mayors. The ADFC, with its more than 450 branches nationwide, will strengthen you in this!"
Climate package: 900 million euros more for cycling
The papers on the climate package explicitly state that "the potential of cycling, which is far from being exhausted" is to be exploited. Together with the federal states and municipalities, "cycling networks" are to be implemented on which "every road user" will feel safe and "every route can be covered by bicycle". Area-wide cycle path networks" are to be created by converting normal roads into "cycle lanes", "converting lanes into protected cycle lanes", "safely redesigning junctions" and building "modern cycle parking facilities". In addition, cycling traffic is to be accelerated by "green waves" wherever possible.
The Federal Government is investing a lot of money in all these projects: 1.45 billion euros will be available for cycling until 2023, which is an additional 900 million euros in this period. The money is available through medium-term financial planning even after a change of government. StorkAlthough the climate package as a whole is disappointing because it continues to set disincentives for excessive car use, it marks a vehement departure for cycling. Not only does the government intend to at least triple cycling. It also admits that the previous, rather cosmetic methods of promoting cycling do not go far enough. From 2020 onwards, there should be really ambitious and high-quality construction for cycling, that's the signal to the cities!"
About the ADFC
The Allgemeine Deutsche Fahrrad-Club e.V. (ADFC) is with more than 185,000 members the largest representation of interests of cyclists in Germany and worldwide. It advises on all matters relating to bicycles: law, technology and tourism. Politically, the ADFC is committed to the consistent promotion of cycling at regional, national and international level.
WIESBADEN: In 2014, companies in Germany achieved a turnover of 3.7 billion euros with goods and services from the solar industry. Compared to 2011, the last economically strong year, this corresponds to an overall decline in turnover of 74.2% or 10.6 billion euros. The crisis in the solar industry in Germany was already apparent in previous years: turnover totalled 9.5 billion in 2012 and 5.1 billion in 2013. The declining economic importance of the solar industry in Germany is primarily due to negative developments in the photovoltaic industry. Between 2011 and 2014, sales of photovoltaic systems and components fell by 75.5 % from 13.3 to 3.3 billion euros. Turnover also fell sharply in the solar thermal sector - from 1.0 billion euros in 2011 to 0.4 billion euros in 2014. Detailed results can be found in the specialist series "Turnover in environmental protection goods and services, 2014". Further information on the survey can be found in the environmental economics section.
The German Solar Energy Society DGS has commented on the developments in a pointed manner: www.dgs.de/index.php?id=3364&type=0#13585 (5th article in the newsletter of 22 July 2016)
Source: Press release destatis.de
Six to ten gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity could be installed on Berlin buildings. More than enough to cover 25 percent of Berlin's electricity supply with solar energy, as envisaged in the plan for Berlin. But the current pace of expansion is decidedly too slow. The Solarcity Berlin master plan envisions producing a quarter of Berlin's electricity consumption with photovoltaics. This goal is to be achieved by 2030. Currently, Berlin's solar systems generate just under half a percent of the energy required in the city. Scientists at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW Berlin) have now conducted a solar potential study to show for the first time which buildings are suitable for solar installations and what restrictions must be expected.
Berlin: On 4 May 2018, BUND presented a shutdown plan for nuclear power plants (NPPs) and coal-fired power plants. This analysis shows that the decommissioning of the most climate-damaging coal-fired power plants by 2020 and a significant acceleration of the nuclear phase-out in Germany are possible without jeopardising security of supply. "The shutdown plan is a call to action for the political actors to finally take action," explains BUND Chair Hubert Weiger at the presentation of the shutdown plan in Berlin.
In the shutdown plan, BUND has drawn up a concrete performance balance and names power plants as well as annual figures for the shutdown. The focus is on the years 2020 and 2023. This period is considered to be a particular challenge for supply security, since on the one hand it is the legal date for the phase-out of nuclear power. On the other hand, a good half of the coal-fired power plants must be taken off the grid in order to achieve the German climate target for 2020.
The BUND shutdown plan shows that this is possible and that significantly more coal-fired power plants can be taken off the grid in the short term than has been discussed so far, and that this can also be combined with a significant acceleration of the nuclear phase-out. As a result, the power surplus in Germany is declining, but the supply remains guaranteed even in hours without sun and with little wind. "In the first quarter of 2018, Germany exported on average the electricity production of five large power plants. Against this background alone, it is surprising that the new federal government has not agreed on the short-term decommissioning of the most climate-damaging coal-fired power plants," says the BUND chairman. "We want to show with our analysis that much more is possible if the political will is there."
The BUND shutdown plan shows that security of supply can be ensured if politicians do not continue to wait, but actively promote the energy transition in parallel to the shutdowns. The calculations of the power balance are mainly based on values from, for example, the Federal Network Agency or the transmission system operators. Deviations and other assumptions are justified. "With our analysis, we want to provide an important impetus for a transparent debate within the framework of the amendment to the Atomic Energy Act and the coal phase-out commission that is being constituted," explains Weiger.
In a shutdown list for coal-fired power plants, BUND proposes the units that would have to be taken off the grid first in order to achieve the 2020 climate target. It concerns all larger coal-fired power plants that were connected to the grid before 1990, in order to reduce the coal capacity on the electricity market to 20 gigawatts. As a new measure to enable a socially acceptable coal phase-out and to safeguard security of supply in extreme situations, the environmental association proposes the introduction of an additional coal phase-out reserve of six to eight gigawatts.
"The Paris Climate Agreement requires the phase-out of coal before 2030. The federal government is responsible for achieving the climate targets, it must enshrine the phase-out in law and ensure a just structural change. To achieve the 2020 climate target, it must now launch an immediate programme. Waiting any longer is irresponsible," continued the BUND chair. Due to the inactivity of climate policy in recent years, the German "climate problem" has become increasingly acute. According to the latest emission forecasts, the German climate protection target for 2020 will be missed by ten percentage points.
At the same time as the coal phase-out, the nuclear power plants can also be taken off the grid more quickly than required by law. The seven nuclear power plants that are currently still connected to the grid represent a constant safety risk for the population and must be decommissioned as soon as possible. So far, however, the federal government does not want to use the amendment to the Atomic Energy Act to really accelerate the nuclear phase-out. "BUND demands an immediate nuclear phase-out. At the very least, the current revision of the Atomic Energy Act must be used to legally prohibit further transfers of electricity volumes," says Weiger. Without this transfer, the nuclear power plants would run for a total of ten years less and the production of 300 tonnes of highly radioactive nuclear waste would be avoided.
Getting out of nuclear power and coal and still securing the energy supply - this is possible if the energy transition is driven forward. "It is a matter of further expanding renewable energies with commitment and creating the energy-economic framework conditions for an energy turnaround that is essentially based on wind energy and photovoltaics," says Weiger. This means an expansion of flexible decentralised CHP power plants, a reduction in electricity consumption, optimised utilisation of the electricity grids and a significant increase in the possibilities for load reduction.
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