Web database of sustainable settlements and neighbourhoods

Calculate factor X online

Published

Online tool simplifies calculation of resource efficiency

Photo: Factor X Agency, Inden

With funding from the federal support programme "Unternehmen Revier", the Factor X agency of the development company has developed an internet-based tool for the simple calculation of the resource efficiency of one's own building project. The tool has now undergone final testing and will be available online from September.


With the Factor X construction method, the entire life cycle of buildings is considered, resulting in many new opportunities for saving raw materials and thus for climate- and resource-saving construction. Until now, the resource efficiency of buildings has been calculated using a spreadsheet as part of the Factor X Agency's construction consultancy service. This is now to be made even easier by the new online tool, which will be accessible to the public via the Internet. The database-based tool was realised with funding from the federal support programme "Unternehmen Revier".

At the invitation of the Fakor X agency, the almost completed online tool was subjected to a final test. Fifteen testers from science, administration and building practice checked the user guidance and calculated test buildings. The concept was praised by all testers. A few suggestions for improvement are still being incorporated into the programming before the online tool is released in September and will then be available.

Initiator Klaus Dosch, head of the Factor X Agency of the indeland development company, is enthusiastic: "Here we are setting up a tool for climate- and resource-friendly construction that does not yet exist in Europe. Even non-specialists interested in construction are supported by our tool in such a way that they can very easily calculate the resource efficiency of their building project. We have created a link to the building materials database of the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR). For the first time, we are making the construction life cycle understandable for laypeople."

Improving resource efficiency in the construction of housing estates is an essential part of the strategy of the indeland 2030 master plan of the development company indeland GmbH. A number of strategies lead to the achievement of these goals and have been tested in the Faktor X settlements in Eschweiler and Inden. With the development of strategies and projects for sustainable building and living, indeland has long since taken on a lighthouse function far beyond the region. Together with the exhibition already opened in May, the tool is intended to contribute to the illustration and dissemination of the Factor X strategies.

There are five Factor X settlements listed in the sdg21 web database:
www.faktor-x.siedlungen.eu


Keywords: Building materials / Construction, DE-News, Faktor X / ResScore, Wood construction, Climate protection, NaWaRohs, News Blog NRW, Resource efficiency, Settlements, Tools, Certification & Labels, Life cycle assessment, Ecology

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Published

Book publication "Post-growth city".

Contours of a solidarity-based urban policy

Anton Brokow-Loga (ed.),
Frank Eckardt (Ed.)

344 pages, softcover,
ISBN 978-3-96238-199-8,
22,00 € (D).
Also available as an e-book.

Cities without growth - a vision hardly imaginable so far. But climate change,
waste of resources, growing social inequalities, and many other
Future threats are fundamentally calling into question the previous panacea of growth. How do we
we live together today and tomorrow? How do we design a good life for everyone in the city?


While in individual niches these questions are already being answered to some extent, there is a lack of
still lacking comprehensive designs and transformation approaches that would fundamentally
contour a different, solidary city. The project Post-Growth City dares to make this attempt.
In this book, conceptual and pragmatic aspects from different areas of
of urban policy are brought together, pointing out and linking new paths. The contributions
discuss urban growth crises, transformative planning, and conflicts over
design power. Last but not least, the question of the role of urban utopias will be revisited.
is being put forward. This is intended to initiate a long overdue debate on how necessary
urban turnarounds can be realized through a socio-ecological reorientation on the ground.

The book as a website with the "Manifesto for the good life in the city for all“
https://postwachstumsstadt.de

Download/order link from the publisher
https://www.oekom.de/buch/postwachstumsstadt-9783962381998?p=1



Keywords:
DE-News, Research, New books and studies, Resource efficiency, City, Sufficiency, Transition Town, Environmental policy, Economics

Winners in the ideas competition 'Reallabore der Energiewende' (Real labs of the energy transition)
Published

Winners in the ideas competition 'Reallabore der Energiewende' (Real labs of the energy transition)

In the future, companies will test new hydrogen technologies on an industrial scale and in a real environment in 20 real laboratories throughout Germany.

18.7.2019. Today Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier announced the winners of the "Energy Transition Real Labs Ideas Competition". The Energy Transition Real Labs are used to test sustainable energy technologies under real conditions and on an industrial scale. The central theme of the ideas competition is CO2-poor Hydrogen. Its use means no or only very low greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen can be produced, for example, via electrolysis on the basis of electricity from wind power or photovoltaic plants. Other important topics in the first round of the ideas competition are energy storage and energy-optimised neighbourhoods.

Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Peter Altmaier commented: "We want to become the world's number 1 in hydrogen technologies. Hydrogen technologies offer enormous potential for the Energy transition and the Climate protection as well as for new jobs. With the Energy Transition Real Labs, we will test new hydrogen technologies not only in research, but also in application under real conditions and on an industrial scale. This is an important building block for the further implementation of the energy transition. We have therefore selected 20 consortia nationwide as winners of our ideas competition."

The response to the "Ideas Competition Reallabore der Energiewende" far exceeded expectations. A total of 90 proposals were submitted. Some projects cannot be implemented in the existing funding regime. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology has therefore initiated the expansion of the funding framework. The list of winners published today also includes projects that can only be implemented with a new funding guideline.

In total, the BMWi 20 consortia nationwide that are planning reallabs. These 20 selected winners of the ideas competition can now submit their applications for funding in the coming weeks and months. For this purpose, the BMWi 100 million euros annually for this purpose. In order to underline the special importance of traditional energy regions for the energy system of the future, the Federal Cabinet has already decided in the key points for a Structural Strengthening Act of 22 May 2019 to provide an additional 200 million euros for reallabs in structural transformation regions.

In addition, the Federal Government will adopt a hydrogen strategy by the end of the year. "Real laboratories of the energy transition" are an important building block for this.

Profile of the winners of the "Energy Transition Real Labs Ideas Competition
you will find here (PDF, 136 KB). A map with a geographical overview can be found here (PDF, 1 MB).
A chapeau text explaining the objectives of the ideas competition can be found at here (PDF, 130 KB).

Supplementary information:
"Energy transition real laboratories" are a new funding pillar in the Federal Government's energy research programme. Companies test the real operation of new technologies in a region. Together with partners from science and research, they analyse the interactions with the energy system and society. On site, it becomes apparent how actors and technologies of the energy transition interact. In this way, valuable experience is gathered to accelerate the transfer of innovations into practice. The results of the reallabs also show how the legal framework must be further developed so that business models can be competitive in the long term.

Video of the press conference:
www.bmwi.de/...reallabore-der-energiewende.html

Further information:
www.energieforschung.de



Keywords:
100% EEs, Fuel cell, CO2-neutral, DE-News, Energy storage, Renewable, Research, Funding, Climate protection, Sustainable management, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement, Quarters, Electricity storage, Environmental policy, eMobility

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