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Electricity storage systems are becoming economical

Published

Photovoltaic systems are already a financially rewarding investment for homeowners today. Coupled with a solar power storage system, the profit will increase even more in the future. This is because storage systems are on the verge of becoming economically viable. This is the result of calculations by the Solar Cluster Baden-Württemberg.

The limit is 1000 euros/kWh

In the last twelve months, the costs for storage batteries for PV systems have fallen by an average of more than 10 %. "In the first quarter of 2017, they were in some cases only around 1150 euros per kWh of storage capacity," says Carsten Tschamber from Solar Cluster. The limit below which the small storage systems bring in more than they cost when used for 20 years is around 1000 euros, assuming a small increase in electricity prices. If you subtract the KfW subsidy, which decreases every six months, the first storage products already reach economic viability with good planning. By the end of the subsidy in 2018, the batteries could become up to 20 % cheaper - a purchase would then be worthwhile for the consumer even without government subsidies.

The cost of solar electricity from new PV systems on residential buildings has now fallen to as low as 8 Ct/kWh - household customers pay more than three times that for grid electricity. That is why it is worthwhile for them to consume as much of it as possible themselves. Solar batteries help to double self-consumption from 30 to 35 to up to 70 %.

Source: Post from 23.5.2017 on www.geb-info.de (no longer online, as of January 2021)


Keywords: Construction and operating costs, DE-News, Energy storage, Renewable, Funding, Electricity storage, Ecology

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Flasbarth: "We need prosperity with less waste of resources".
Published

Flasbarth: "We need prosperity with less waste of resources".

Leading economies discuss raw material consumption

In Argentina today, the twenty largest industrialised and emerging countries are discussing ways and means to use natural resources such as raw materials, water and land more efficiently and sparingly. State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth is opening the conference in Puerto Iguazú today together with Argentina's Environment Minister Bergman. Argentina, which currently holds the presidency of the G20, is thus continuing a political initiative by Germany.

Flasbarth: "If we reduce our resource consumption in the industrialised countries, it will also be easier for us to make progress on climate protection. We need prosperity that makes do with fewer resources. The World Resources Council has shown that we can also benefit economically from this, because resource efficiency is an engine for innovation and new jobs."

According to calculations by the World Resources Council (International Resource Panel), annual raw material consumption of currently 85 billion tonnes by 2050 to 186 billion tonnes if no countermeasures are taken. Resource efficiency and climate protection, on the other hand, could reduce raw material consumption by 28% and greenhouse gas emissions by over 60%, while at the same time increasing global economic output by 1%.

At the G20 Summit in Hamburg in July 2017, the heads of state and government had decided, at Germany's suggestion, to hold an annual G20 Resources Dialogue. After a kick-off meeting in Berlin in November 2017, the conference in Puerto Iguazú is the second meeting of the new governance process. The Resource Dialogue will meet in Puerto Iguazú from 28-29 August, ahead of a G20 working group on climate change.

Back in 2012, Germany was one of the first countries in the world to adopt a national resource efficiency programme (ProgRess). The aim of the programme is to use fewer raw materials and promote the use of recycled materials throughout the entire economic cycle - from raw material extraction to product design and production processes, our consumption patterns and the circular economy.

You can find examples of resource-efficient settlements and urban quarters at
www.ressourceneffiziente.siedlungen.eu

Source: BMU-PM of 27.8.2018



Keywords:
Stakeholders, Renewable, News Blog Europe (without DE), Resource efficiency, Environmental policy

Wooden buildings: New life cycle assessment study
Published

Wooden buildings: New life cycle assessment study

The study "Greenhouse gas balancing of timber buildings -implementation of new requirements for life cycle assessments and determination of empirical substitution factors (GHG timber construction)" led by Prof. Dr. Annette Hafner (RuhrUni Bochum) has now been published.

Download:
http://forum-holzbau.com/nl_pdf/nl134_rub.pdf



Keywords:
Building materials / Construction, DE-News, Wood construction, Climate protection, Media, NaWaRohs, New books and studies, Resource efficiency, Life cycle assessment, Ecology

Published

New Leipzig Charter between aspiration and reality

On the occasion of the meeting of the EU Ministers for Urban Development and Territorial Cohesion on the "New Leipzig Charter", Daniela Wagner, Spokesperson for Urban Development of the Alliance 90/The Greens in the German Bundestag, explains:

We welcome the "New Leipzig Charter". Without the transformational power of cities and the ideas and energy of their inhabitants, we will not be able to meet the challenges of the climate crisis. Nevertheless, the Charter contains considerable gaps. The guiding principle of the resilient city is missing. The development of robust and resilient cities is important in order to better assess risks and to be able to recognise and prevent dangers in good time. Nor is the model of the healthy city mentioned - despite the heat waves caused by the climate crisis, a never-ending stream of air pollutants from fossil combustion engines and the current challenge of a global pandemic.

In addition, there is a huge gap between the claims of the "New Leipzig Charter" and the actions of the Federal Government, which after all helped to develop the Charter. It would be nice if the content of the Charter were reflected to some extent in the policies of the Federal Government. For example, it is hard to understand why the paper talks about reducing land consumption, but the Federal Government does the exact opposite and reintroduces the land-grabbing paragraph 13b in the Building Code, which is highly questionable in terms of environmental and housing policy, or pushes through the construction of age-old plans from the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan.

If the federal government is serious about affordable and well-designed housing being fundamental to urban development policy, then it should finally provide more affordable housing, double federal funding for social housing construction and introduce the New Housing Community Benefit. The energy turnaround in existing buildings should finally be advanced. With the "Fair Heat" action plan, we have presented a package of measures that financially incentivises investments in energy modernisation of housing with energy savings and the switch to renewable heat and significantly lowers the hurdles for the investments.

The statement in the Charter that urban transport and mobility systems should be efficient, climate-neutral and multimodal is also correct. Unfortunately, there is a considerable lack of implementation of the transport turnaround. What the federal government has done so far in terms of strengthening bus and rail pales in comparison to the billions in subsidies for the automotive industry. At the same time, the federal government is putting the brakes on the expansion of electromobility and has parked the topic of charging stations on the hard shoulder.

Source: PM of BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN in the German Bundestag from 30.11.2020



Keywords:
Soil & land consumption, DE-News, Mix of uses, Resource efficiency, SDG 2030, City, Environmental policy, Housing policy

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