Trailer 2010, 1:51 min.
The documentary film THE 4th REVOLUTION - ENERGY AUTONOMY by FechnerMedia shows exemplary projects in ten countries.
Environmental crises endanger health. At the same time, an ecological change of course offers many opportunities to create healthier living conditions. This is the core message of the special report that the Environment Council is handing over to Environment Minister Steffi Lemke and Health Minister Prof. Karl Lauterbach in Berlin today.
15 % of deaths in Europe are due to environmental risks, the WHO estimates. Health hazards arise, for example, from air pollutants, noise, chemicals and the spread of antibiotic resistance. New burdens, such as those caused by climate change and biodiversity loss, are also emerging.
"We have known about some of these problems for many years, and policy-makers should now tackle them consistently," says Prof. Claudia Hornberg, Chair of the Environmental Council. "For example, the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry must be more limited in order to reduce the risk of resistance. In addition, chemical regulation should focus on inherently safe chemicals as far as possible."
Only if the federal, state and local governments consistently think together about environment and health can healthy living conditions be created for all. Established instruments such as monitoring, limit values and environmental assessments must be adapted to new challenges. The report provides numerous suggestions for this.
There is also a need for action in urban design: "We need more nature in cities, also to cushion the effects of climate change," says Council member Prof. Wolfgang Köck. "Socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods are often subject to multiple stresses, especially noise and air pollution. Municipalities should specifically relieve these neighbourhoods. Health-related environmental protection in urban planning needs more active involvement of public health departments and greater public participation, as well as financial support from the federal and state governments."
"How important nature is for our health is often underestimated," adds Council member Prof. Josef Settele. "It helps to reduce stress, motivates us to exercise and strengthens the immune system, to name just a few examples. To preserve all these functions, we need to protect it better and give it more space."
Special report of the SRU
2023, 282 pages, 35 illustrations, 6 table(s), ISBN 978-3-947370-25-2
The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) has been advising the German government on environmental policy issues for over 50 years. The Council's composition of seven professors from different disciplines ensures a scientifically independent and comprehensive assessment, both from a scientific-technical and a social science perspective.
The Council currently consists of the following members:
Prof. Dr Claudia Hornberg (Chair), Bielefeld University
Prof. Dr Claudia Kemfert (Deputy Chair), Leuphana University Lüneburg and German Institute for Economic Research Berlin
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christina Dornack, Dresden University of Technology
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Köck, University of Leipzig and Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Lucht, Humboldt University Berlin and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Prof. Dr Josef Settele, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Prof. Dr Annette Elisabeth Töller, Open University in Hagen
German Advisory Council on the Environment
Luisenstraße 46, 10117 Berlin, + 49 30 263696-0
www.umweltrat.de
Keywords:
DE-News, New books and studies, Environmental policy
Five prize winners can look forward to the Lower Austrian Timber Construction Prize 2016, which was awarded for the 15th time on 6.6.2016.
Högl Winery, Wachau Prize winner utility building
(Copyright Elmar Ludescher)
"Planning is becoming more and more creative and every year there are new technical solutions. As a result, wood is becoming more attractive as a building material for builders and planners every year," summarises Deputy Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitne. "You can see this not only in single-family homes, but also in the public sector, where wood is being used more and more often in construction." The timber industry in Lower Austria has now reached a production value of around 1.7 billion euros and employs around 22,000 Lower Austrians.
Keywords:
Wood construction, News Blog Austria, Contests & Prizes
The BUND and the ifeu - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research have produced various studies on building issues in the last 10 years, including "13 measures against energy waste in the boiler room".
This study now deals with the core issue of cost allocation for energy modernisation in rented buildings. As early as 2012, BUND, the German Tenants' Association (Deutscher Mieterbund) and the German League for Nature Conservation (Deutscher Naturschutzring) presented the basic idea of the so-called "one-third model". Costs and benefits should be shared between tenants, landlords and the state in as balanced a way as possible. This was and is linked to the premise of achieving a rent-neutral apportionment. In addition, disputes about the amount of the apportionment and the division according to maintenance and modernisation costs should be avoided or circumvented.
This study presents the basic features of the one-third model, but includes other factors that play a role in the modernisation levy, such as rent losses, property taxes or residual values in a specially developed calculation model. The calculations also take into account the different situations of private landlords and housing associations as well as different housing market situations such as growing, shrinking and constant housing markets.
Targeted support measures
hardship interception
Amount of the modernisation levy
The changes can only be introduced as a package. This is the only way to achieve the desired effect, namely to meet the climate protection targets and to balance the costs between the actors.
The basic idea of the one-third model, a fairer distribution of costs for all parties, can be applied to all cases examined. The desired result, the resolution of the apparent contradiction between climate protection and social security, is achieved for the various actors. Although public budgets share more than one third of the modernisation costs, they benefit to a greater extent from the economic advantages of energy efficiency.
BUND expects that an amendment to the tenancy law will implement the one-third model and that this can be supported by all participating agencies and associations. It would be a concrete contribution to integrate and implement the much-vaunted social component in climate protection measures. In this way, a higher level of acceptance for the urgently needed energy modernisation will be achieved - the rental housing stock will thus make its indispensable contribution to climate protection. The preservation of the building fabric will benefit just as much as the quality of living, if the living comfort is increased through proper energy modernisation.
Source: News Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e.V. (BUND), September 2019
Keywords:
Stakeholders, Stock, DE-News, Climate protection, Media, Tenant electricity, New books and studies, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, Quarters, Settlements, City, Environmental policy, Housing, Housing policy, Thermal insulation, Ecology
"Vienna has never squandered its housing stock, which is why a quarter of all flats are now owned by the city. That sounds good, but it also has disadvantages."
Read the whole Report in the Süddeutsche newspaper from 13 November 2016
Keywords:
Communities, Quarters, Settlements, Typology, Housing policy
