Large sections of the German business community want ambitious climate protection in the coalition agreement

Published 8 November 2017

A broad alliance of more than 50 large and medium-sized companies and business associations is calling on the parties in the exploratory talks to make climate protection the central task of the future German government.

Subscribers to the declaration include major companies active in Germany, larger SMEs and associations from a wide range of sectors. They include 6 DAX 30 companies and well-known names such as Aldi Süd, Deutsche Börse, Deutsche Telekom, Hochtief, Nestlé, SAP and many more. Energy-intensive industrial companies and coal-fired power plant operators are also supporting the appeal, including Siemens, EnBW, E.ON and Papier- und Kartonfabrik Varel. Many of the subscribing companies are not direct winners of decarbonisation or the energy transition. However, the subscribers promise to play their part in climate protection. Coordinators of the declaration are the business associations Stiftung 2° and B.A.U.M. as well as the development and environmental organisation Germanwatch.

https://www.stiftung2grad.de/klimaschutz_koalitionsverhandlungen-3321

Keywords: Stakeholders, DE-News, Climate protection, SDG 2030, Environmental policy

Published 17 December 2020

What does the EU's CO2 reduction target mean for the German energy transition?

*For photovoltaics and wind, an annual expansion of 10-14 GW and 9 GW, respectively, is necessary by 2030 to provide sufficient CO2-free electricity for Germany. © Fig.: Fraunhofer ISE*

In the context of the Green Deal, the EU's tightened targets on the path to climate neutrality envisage a reduction in CO2 emissions of 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. Against the background of these tightened parameters, the question arises as to the impact on the energy transition in Germany. Based on its energy system model REMod, Fraunhofer ISE has calculated the consequences of the new EU targets for the expansion of renewable energies in Germany and now presents the results in a short study.

In February 2020, Fraunhofer ISE presented the study "Pathways to a Climate-Neutral Energy System - The Energy Transition in the Context of Societal Behaviour", which investigated the influence of societal behaviour on possible transformation paths of the German energy system towards an almost complete reduction of energy-related CO₂-emissions in the year 2050. The calculations carried out with the REMod energy system model were based on the targets set by the German government at the time of preparation, i.e. a reduction in German CO₂-emissions by 55% in 2030 and 95% in 2050 compared to 1990.

In response to the tightening of the European targets from 40% to 55% by 2030, which has now been implemented as part of the European Green Deal, the Institute has recalculated. The transformation paths for Germany considered in the February study were revised with a view to reducing Germany's CO₂-emissions of 65% in 2030 and complete climate neutrality of the energy system in 2050. The scientists from Freiburg recalculated all scenarios of their study from February (reference, insistence on conventional technologies, unacceptance of large infrastructure measures, sufficiency). As an additional aspect, they added an investigation of the sensitivity for import prices of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels. The short study mainly considers the reference scenario in order to be able to go into more detail on the changes caused by the target tightening. However, the study also identifies corridors for the expansion of a variety of technologies that can be derived from different scenarios. In the case of photovoltaics and wind, annual additions of 10-14 GW and 9 GW respectively are required by 2030 in order to achieve sufficient CO₂-free electricity for Germany.

"The update of our energy end-use study shows that achieving the climate protection targets, even with a greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than previously assumed, is feasible from a technical and systemic point of view, albeit with greater efforts," says Dr Christoph Kost, head of the Energy Systems and Energy Economics Group and author of the short study. "A target tightening of energy-related CO₂-emissions leads to a higher direct or indirect use of renewably generated electricity in the consumption sectors. This in turn requires a much greater expansion of wind and solar power generation facilities." Furthermore, the short study shows that the expansion of fluctuating renewable energies requires a strong expansion of system flexibility.

If we want to achieve a reduction in CO₂emissions by 65% by 2030, battery-electric vehicles must account for 30-35% of passenger transport in the mobility sector, for example. In a climate-neutral energy system by 2050, conventional internal combustion engines will be virtually eliminated from passenger car transport as well as from freight transport.

"Heat pumps - used in households or to supply district heating networks - must become a key technology for heat supply with immediate effect," says Institute Director Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Henning, summarising the results for the building sector. With a view to the CO₂-avoidance costs, he adds: "The tightening of the target used here leads to an increase in CO₂-avoidance costs. However, these depend to a large extent on the development of final energy demand."

More detailed explanations of the central statements of the newly calculated transformation paths of the energy transition in Germany can be found on the website of Fraunhofer ISE: "Pathways to a climate-neutral energy system 2050 - The energy transition in the context of societal behaviours - Update under a target of 65% CO₂-reduction in 2030 and 100% in 2050.".

Link to the study "Pathways to a climate-neutral energy system - The energy transition in the context of societal behaviour", February 2020, update December 2020:

www.ise.fraunhofer.de/de/veroeffentlichungen/studien/wege-zu-einem-klimaneutralen-energiesystem.html

Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, New books and studies, PV, Environmental policy

Published 15. May 2013

Messages in 2013

10/2013: Europe's largest wooden house with straw insulation in Verden
The largest straw-insulated and directly plastered wooden house in Europe is being built in Verden from the oldest building materials known to man. The twenty-metre high natural building contains 38 tonnes of straw, 100 tonnes of clay and 200 tonnes of softwood.
www.weser-kurier.de/...artikel...

10/2013: Films "City of the Future" and "How does the city get fed?"
The following two recommendable films can be seen in the Arte Mediathek until 15.10.2013: "City of the Future" (45 min; first broadcast: 10/2013):
www.arte.tv/guide/de/047869-000/stadt-der-zukunft-zukunft-der-stadt
"How does the city get fed?" (53 min.; first broadcast: 10/2013):
www.arte.tv/guide/de/047870-000/wie-wird-die-stadt-satt

The films are also available from FechnerMedia:
DVD "City of the Future - Future of the City
http://shop.fechnermedia.com/katalog/filme/stadt-der-zukunft-zukunft-der-stadt
DVD "How to feed the city - The struggle for the food markets of the future".
http://shop.fechnermedia.com/katalog/filme/wie-wird-die-stadt-satt

9/2013: IBA Berlin 2020 Preliminary Studies
the downloads of the IBA Berlin 2020 preliminary studies are available here:
www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/.../iba/de/studien.shtml

8/2013: DIN standards on earthen building come into force
Since August 2013, binding standards for earthen construction have come into force in Germany for the first time since 1971. They apply to clay blocks, clay masonry and clay plaster mortars. This means that earth as a building material has finally arrived in contemporary construction. For non-standardised and on-site produced earthen building materials, the earthen building rules first published in 1998 continue to apply. With the current revision of the interior plaster application standard DIN 18550-2, the course has been set towards Europe-wide recognition of the material.
www.claytec.de/...din-normen-lehm-2013.html

6/2013: New timber construction magazine
"We want to show you wood" says the editorial team of lignardo, the first German architecture magazine dedicated exclusively to wood as a building material. lignardo is in intensive exchange with renowned architects and industry experts: Prof. Herrmann Kaufmann, Prof. Ludger Dederich, Prof. Uwe Germerott, architect Frank Lattke and architect Florian Lichtblau support an experienced editorial team that has been active in the timber construction industry for many years. This is how the print premiere "Award-winning timber buildings" came into being at the beginning of June. With six printed issues per year, lignardo will in future concentrate monothematically on one building task each, because timber construction will play a very special role in this century.
www.lignardo.de

5/2013: Polystyrene thermal insulation - The madness continues: The consequences of insulating with polystyrene can be devastating: for the living climate and also in case of fire. Who benefits from the constantly tightened energy-saving regulations?

Styrofoam as a façade insulation material is often the material of choice when houses are to be thermally insulated. But this can have devastating consequences: for the indoor climate and also in case of fire. Already at the end of 2011, NDR dealt with the topic of thermal insulation and pointed out risks and problems. Above all, the fire test with the insulating material polystyrene caused a sensation throughout Germany. In the second part, in which further in-depth research was carried out, the question still arises: Who really benefits from constantly tightened energy-saving regulations and the boom in thermal insulation composite systems fuelled by them: the residents, the environment or the lobby?

Here is the film from the end of 2012: www.ndr.de/...minuten667
and supplementary NDR information: www.ndr.de/...waermedaemmung

4/2013: No health risks from electrosmog from photovoltaic systems:
www.wilabonn.de/...elektromagnetische-strahlung-durch-pv

3/2013: Model buildings searched for on gutebaustoffe.de:
www.gutebaustoffe.de/modellbauwerke.html

Largest Sustainable Settlement in Europe there are with 2,900 flats on an area of 170 ha in Holland: Stad van de Zon (City of the Sun) Heerhugowaard
www.heerhugowaardstadvandezon.nl

First German PlusEnergy School near Augsburg
http://informationsdienst-holz.de/…plusenergy school

Largest plus-energy building with 78 rental flats of the municipal housing association ABG in Frankfurt

Photovoltaic systems are planned on the slightly sloping roof, on the windows and on the façade of the building. At the same time, heat is recovered from the waste water. All of this is enough to achieve a surplus of around ten percent after consumption in the entire house, says Junker. This surplus can be used for the electric car, for example. The ABG, which cooperates with the car-sharing provider Book 'n Drive, will provide five cars and an electricity charging station on the ground floor of the building, which does not have a basement. Unused electricity from the car can also be fed back into the storage system. It is "energy-autarkic", meaning it could completely disconnect from the general electricity grid.
www.fr-online.de/frankfurt/wohnungsbau-frankfurt-energie-im-ueberfluss,1472798,20352740.html

2/2013: Photovoltaics statistics updated: 32.4 GW connected to the grid in Germany
Whereas in 2000 there were just 400 megawatts of PV capacity installed in Germany, today there are 32,389 megawatts or around 32.4 gigawatts.
www.solarserver.de/...photovoltaik-statistik.html

Photovoltaics annual review 2012: Multi-layered markets in upheaval
As expected, 2012 was a difficult year for the global photovoltaic industry. Production capacities were consistently too high, and this caused price collapses along the value chain, negative margins and losses for photovoltaic manufacturers. Despite these difficulties, the global photovoltaic market grew by 10-17 % in 2012 to around 31-33 GW, even established markets like Germany continued to grow. The latest figures from the German Ministry of the Environment show that the photovoltaic market in Germany reached a volume of 7.6 GW by the end of the year, despite the cut in the solar power feed-in tariff. This is again a World record for annual installed PV capacity. The Chinese photovoltaic market probably doubled again in 2012. Final figures are not yet available, but if the estimate by IMS Research from last October is correct, China would be the second largest PV market in the world with 5 GW. The installed capacity includes not only the plants that have been approved for feed-in tariffs, but also those from the "Golden Sun" programme with a total of 1.7 GW.
www.solarserver.de/...photovoltaik-jahresrueckblick-2012

Terra Preta - The new grassroots revolution
Save the climate and defeat world hunger with kitchen waste, vegetable charcoal and earthworms? Science believes it has found the recipe: Terra Preta do Indio, the "black gold". Ute Scheub, Haiko Pieplow and Hans-Peter Schmidt have written in "Terra Preta. The Black Revolution from the Rainforest", Ute Scheub and Haiko Pieplow have compiled the knowledge about the most fertile soil in the world. "Black soil - produced by farmers and smallholders, hobby gardeners and slum dwellers - can trigger a literal grassroots revolution," says Scheub.
www.oekom.de/nc/buecher/buechersuche/buch/terra-preta-die-schwarze-revolution-aus-dem-regenwald.html

1/2013: New DBU brochure on resource-efficient building and living
www.dbu.de/...

Rolf Disch builds Plusenergiesiedlung in Grenzach near Basel with 74 flats
www.rolfdisch.de/...

Brave New World: Megacities in China
www.zeit.de/...density-2

Keywords:
DE-News

Published 6 November 2019

Video portrait (2019) of the Factor X settlement; BMU Climate Protection Prize

The city of Eschweiler (North Rhine-Westphalia) has been awarded the climate protection prize "Klimaaktive Kommune 2019″ by the Federal Environment Ministry in category 1: "Resource and energy efficiency in the municipality". The city of Eschweiler is committed to more resource and climate protection with its Factor X construction areas.

Film about the Faktor X housing estate in Eschweiler:

(6:25 min.) published on Nov 5, 2019

The prize is awarded by the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) as part of the National Climate Initiative (NKI), which is implemented by the German Institute of Urban Affairs gGmbh (DIFU).

More information about the climate protection award "Climate Active Community 2019″ is available on the website of the National Climate Protection Initiative of the Federal Government :
www.klimaschutz.de/stadt-eschweiler

Project Info: http://sdg21.eu/db/neue-hoefe-duerwiss

All Factor X settlements:
http://sdg21.eu/thema/faktor-x-siedlung

Keywords:
Awards, Building materials / Construction, DE-News, Faktor X / ResScore, Movies, Movies 4 to 10 Min, Wood construction, Climate protection, Communities, Media, NaWaRohs, Sustainable management, News Blog NRW, Recycling, Resource efficiency, Settlements, Sufficiency, Tools, Contests & Prizes, Housing, Certification & Labels, Life cycle assessment, Ecology