Paderborn district cracks 100 percent mark for green electricity
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The district of Paderborn has achieved a climate target that can currently only be dreamed of nationwide. It has a green electricity supply of more than 100 per cent. This year, with the help of wind, sun, biomass and water, for the first time as much renewable electricity is being generated as is being consumed. Since the end of June, it has been exactly 112 per cent.
Annual consumption: 2.3 billion kilowatt hours
This is what the State Association for Renewable Energies in OWL determined. The association used figures from the State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV) as well as current data from the district of Paderborn. According to these figures, the more than 500 wind turbines, 11,500 photovoltaic systems and 53 biomass power plants generate slightly more electricity on an annual average than private individuals, trade and industry in the district of Paderborn require over the year: Almost 2.3 billion kilowatt hours.
Second place for Höxter district with 63 per cent green electricity
This puts the Paderborn district in the Champions League nationwide: "There are very few regions that already fulfil the 100 per cent green electricity quota - in NRW, we are the first and so far the only one," says Kerstin Haarmann (Paderborn), Managing Director of LEE OWL. This is particularly remarkable because the district of Paderborn has a national average electricity consumption due to its share of industry. Smaller districts with little industry and commerce would naturally find it easier to reach 100 per cent. In a comparison of East Westphalia, the district of Paderborn is the lone leader: the district of Höxter is in second place with 63 per cent green electricity, followed by the district of Lippe with 23.5 per cent, Gütersloh with 20.8 per cent, Minden-Lübbecke with 17 per cent and Herford with 6.5 per cent. Bringing up the rear is the city of Bielefeld with a 4.5 per cent share of green electricity in electricity consumption.
Renewables account for 27 per cent of total energy demand
The district of Paderborn has even achieved its climate target, which was unanimously approved by the district council in 2011, ahead of schedule. The plan was for electricity consumption to be completely renewable by 2020. "However, we don't have time to rest on our laurels in the fight against climate change," explains Jürgen Wrona (Delbrück) from the LEE OWL board. Measured in terms of total energy demand (electricity, heat and transport), the proportion of renewables in the Paderborn district is currently only around 27 per cent. "There is room for improvement, especially in the areas of heating and transport," says Wrona.
Source: Press release from the NRW Energy Agency dated 8 August 2018
The 88th Conference of Environment Ministers has just passed a resolution in Bad Saarow on the "Promotion of Building with Wood", which was introduced by Rhineland-Palatinate. The document calls on the federal government to improve the framework conditions for timber construction.
According to the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of the Environment, the positive climate protection properties of renewable raw materials are to be taken into account in building energy law, among other things.
This would be more than desirable, because the draft bill for the Building Energy Act (GEG) recently presented by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) missed the opportunity to finally take the entire life cycle of buildings into account in the amendment.
Read more:
Press release of the Ministry of Environment, Energy, Food and Forestry of Rhineland-Palatinate (May 5, 2017)
The "Climate Adaptation Check" is a new orientation aid for NRW municipalities. The federal state passed the first climate adaptation law in Germany in 2021. The check supports NRW municipalities in implementing the new consideration requirement.
Berlin/Cologne. The consequences of climate change have long been felt in German municipalities: more frequent heavy rainfall events, flooding, storms as well as heat waves and prolonged drought. Cities, municipalities and districts must adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change as quickly as possible and become more resilient. In July 2021, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia passed the first climate adaptation law in Germany. According to this law, municipalities in NRW are obliged, for example, to take the impacts of climate change into account in their planning and decisions. In order to support municipalities in the implementation, the "Kommunalberatung Klimafolgenanpassung NRW" (Municipal Advice on Climate Change Adaptation NRW), established at Difu, was commissioned by the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Environment to publish an orientation guide. The new "Climate Adaptation Check for Municipalities in NRW" supports municipalities in the implementation of the consideration requirement according to § 6 of the Climate Adaptation Act.
The guidance outlines the essential premises - responsibility, timeliness, comprehensibility - which must be adhered to, makes suggestions for the procedure and gives advice on implementation. As the core of the procedure, a climate adaptation check of draft resolutions - or ideally already for preliminary planning - is recommended, which is to be discussed and adapted locally in each case and, if necessary, combined in a suitable manner with other test procedures (such as sustainability or climate protection). The working aid is also intended to support climate resilient reconstruction in the areas damaged by the heavy rain and flood events of July 2021.
The development has been based on the experiences and assessments of municipalities in NRW and other federal states. It should and can therefore also be a helpful tool for other municipalities in Germany.
The online publication is available free of charge as a flipbook as well as an accessible version.
Background
The North Rhine-Westphalia Climate Adaptation Act (KlAnG) states in § 6 Consideration requirement:
(1) In their planning and decision-making, the public bodies shall take into account the purpose of this Act and the objectives set for its fulfilment in an interdisciplinary and integrated manner.
(2) Pursuant to section 13(3), first sentence, of the Federal Climate Protection Act of 12 December 2019 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 2513), when applying economic efficiency criteria in comparative considerations, the cost and
savings over the respective entire useful life of the investment or procurement. In accordance with sentence 2, the expected costs of the negative consequences of climate change shall also be taken into account in an appropriate manner.
Short info: German Institute of Urban Affairs
As the largest urban research institute in the German-speaking world, the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu) is the research, training and information institution for cities, municipal associations and planning communities. Whether urban and regional development, municipal economy, urban planning, social issues, environment, transport, culture, law, administrative issues or municipal finance: Founded in 1973, the independent Berlin-based institute - with a further location in Cologne - deals with an extensive range of topics and, on a scientific level, deals in a practical way with all the tasks that municipalities have to deal with today and in the future. The Verein für Kommunalwissenschaften e.V. is the sole shareholder of the research institute, which is run as a non-profit limited company.
Great joy in Aachen: One of the central urban development projects is awarded special federal funding.
Mayor Sibylle Keupen: "This is a super message for our city!"
The Büchel old town quarter is one of 24 projects nationwide that are now being supported with a total of 75 million euros.
98 cities and municipalities had applied.
A most welcome piece of news reached the city of Aachen this morning (17 March 2021): Federal Minister Horst Seehofer has announced this year's selection of the "National Projects of Urban Development" and announced that the development of the Büchel old town quarter will receive up to 5.5 million euros in funding. Aachen is thus one of four municipalities in NRW to have been awarded the contract. With the amount of funding, the city is in third place nationwide.
Great news from Berlin: The federal government wants to support the development of the Büchel in Aachen's city centre with up to 5.5 million euros. Photo: City of Aachen / Andreas Herrmann
OBin Keupen: "We feel the spirit of optimism!"
"This is a great message for our city," says Mayor Sibylle Keupen in her first reaction. "We have long felt the spirit of optimism around the Büchel in Aachen. The demolition of the multi-storey car park is imminent, the planning workshop was a great success, many groundbreaking political decisions have been made, and more are on the horizon. Above all, many city makers are on board and want to be involved in a very concrete way. They want to participate, to shape, to plan, to build. The fact that this high level of commitment of all those involved here on site has now also triggered such a response at federal level encourages us to continue on the path of 'making a city at Büchel'."
City Planning Director Burgdorff: "Aachen can play in the Bundesliga!"
The municipal councillor for urban development, construction and mobility, Frauke Burgdorff, adds: "I am extremely pleased that Aachen, if it sticks together, can also play in the Bundesliga! Aachen's politicians have united behind the project and have given their backing to the state and federal governments. Thank you for that! But I would also like to express my sincere thanks to those who have done the substantive work here on site, to the municipal project manager Nils Jansen as well as to Christoph Guth and Antje Eickhoff, who have done an excellent job on the part of the municipal development company SEGA."
Making town at the Büchel
A special piece of the city at eye level is to be created at Büchel. It is being developed together with many committed people and institutions. With this approach, it has also precisely met the requirements of the call for proposals. The Federal Ministry's project overview states: "Knowledge, living, meadow" are the keywords under which a mixed-use, urban quarter is to be created in the heart of Aachen's old town in a cooperative and exemplary development process that is wanted and supported by the urban community.
The basis for the development is the exploratory procedure "Stadt machen am Büchel" (Making a city at Büchel), which the city of Aachen launched in spring 2020. City Planning Director Burgdorff sums up: "A multi-storey car park has been blocking the development of the old town for decades. We are tearing it down and building a new urban quarter. The urban community itself is developing the programme, urban design and investment strategy. This project offers a unique opportunity to find answers to the question of how a major wound in the old city can be healed with contemporary building-cultural responses."
The next steps
Following today's basic commitment by the federal government to fund the project, the detailed applications for funding will be drawn up in phase 2. In this ongoing process - and on the basis of upcoming landmark decisions of Aachen's municipal politics - it will now be worked out how the Büchel of the future will take shape with the funding millions.
National urban development projects
National urban development projects are nationally and internationally visible, larger-scale urban development projects with clear impulses for the respective municipality or city, the region and urban development policy in Germany as a whole. They are characterised by a special quality standard with regard to the urban development approach, the building culture aspects and the participation processes, contribute to the realisation of the federal government's building policy objectives and have innovation potential. National urban development projects are projects that generally solve tasks and problems of considerable financial dimension. The focus is on the major challenges currently facing cities and municipalities in Germany (e.g. preservation of existing buildings, conversions, sustainable neighbourhood development).
A total of 24 projects for forward-looking urban development are being funded by the federal government with a total of around 75 million euros. 98 cities and municipalities from all over Germany applied for the funding.
More info Interesting facts about the Büchel can be found on the Internet at www.buechel-aachen.de
From Aprill 2021 the Demolition work on the Büchel multi-storey car park. All the info on this has been presented as part of an online event. The stream is still available on the YouTube channel of the city of Aachen: https://youtu.be/KQqFq6v_edA.
Within the framework of a cooperative planning workshop, three teams of experts developed three exciting designs for the Büchel, each with a focus on the major themes of "knowledge, living, meadow". The final presentation of the planning workshop, which took place digitally in January 2021, is also still available as a stream: https://youtu.be/AWSb5Gx3gKA.
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