New publication: So that we do what we think is right

Published 19 August 2016

oekoroutine book cover The gap between knowledge and action is often wide. At the beginning of his book "Ökoroutine", Michael Kopatz explains why we often don't do what we think is right: out of routine. Because the here and now determines our actions. Because it is difficult to avoid advertising. Or because living sustainably seems more expensive and more inconvenient in everyday life. Why should I, of all people, cycle more often, fly less, spend more money on organic products?

Appeals and campaigns alone will not bring the necessary change any closer

Kopatz recommends political intervention and raising standards - in animal husbandry, for example, or in agriculture. Appliances must be repairable and energy-efficient refurbishments must be socially just. Kopatz also makes an imaginative plea for new political framework conditions with regard to mobility or regional economic models.

Further information on the "eco-routine" can be found at www.oekoroutine.de.

Michael Kopatz: Ökoroutine - Damit wir tun, was wir für richtig halten, 2016. 416 pages, €24.95

Order at buecher.de

Keywords: DE-News, Climate protection, Lifestyle / Consumption, Sustainable management, New books and studies, Sufficiency, Transition Town

Published 13 June 2022

German Building Owner Award 2022: The nominees have been determined

Berlin - The nominees for the German Building Award 2022 have been determined. A total of 29 housing projects were selected in a two-stage process by an interdisciplinary jury chaired by Susanne Wartzeck, President of the Association of German Architects BDA. This year, 187 housing projects completed between 2018 and 2021 took part in the competition across Germany.

Since 1986, the German Building Award has been honouring outstanding housing projects that are both of high quality and have been implemented at affordable costs. With this broad claim, the prize is unique in Germany.

"The contributions encourage us to reconcile quality and costs. This radiates to the cities and neighbourhoods where the projects were built. Their exemplary effect multiplies good building. But it is also clear that we have to be prepared for higher costs in building and take this into account in the demands on living space. Good solutions on less space - that is the challenge that building enthusiasts, architects and cities have to meet", emphasises Helmut Dedy, Chief Executive of the German Association of Cities.

The winners of the German Building Award will be announced and honoured on 15 September 2022 at the award ceremony during the National Urban Development Policy Congress in Berlin.

The German Building Award is known as the most important prize in the field of housing construction in Germany. It was launched by the KOOPERATION working group consisting of the central association of the housing industry GdW, the Association of German Architects BDA and the German Association of Cities and is supported by the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction, DZ Hyp AG and the Association of German Landscape Architects bdla.

All information on the German Building Award can be found at

www.deutscherbauherrenpreis.de

Overview of the nominees for the DBHP 2022

NEW CONSTRUCTION:

KARO ARNSTADT, Arnstadt

Client: Wachsenburg Baugruppe

Building group Balingen - eventful living, Balingen

Client: erlebnisreich wohnen GmbH & Co. KG

New housing on Briesestraße, Berlin

Client: STADT UND LAND Wohnbauten-Gesellschaft mbH

Johannisgärten, Berlin

Client: HOWOGE Wohnungsbaugesellschaft mbH

Grünes Haus am Hohentorsplatz - Subsidised housing in a city centre location, Bremen

Client: GEWOBA Aktiengesellschaft Wohnen und Bauen

Residential house Rübezahlweg, Bruckmühl

Client: Market Bruckmühl

Marktplatz 7 - replacement new building, Buchbach

Client: Markt Buchbach (represented by the First Mayor, Thomas Einwang)

"Mary & Abe", Darmstadt

Client: GSW Gemeinnütziges Siedlungswerk GmbH

Social housing Lebens-S-Raum "Eiswiese", Düren

Client: City of Düren

Carl-Sieder-Hof - Cooperative living around a green inner courtyard, Freiburg

Client: Bauverein Breisgau eG

Neighbourhood development UNI-CARRÉ, Freiburg

Client: Bauverein Breisgau eG

Mirror factory, Fürth

Client: Spiegelfabrik Planungs-GbR

Bauverein der Elbgemeinden eG, Hamburg

Building owner: Bauverein der Elbgemeinden eG

Pergola Quarter, Hamburg

Client: SAGA Siedlungs- und Aktiengesellschaft Hamburg

Residential development Robertstraße, Cologne

Client: GAG Immobilien AG Cologne

Redesign of Heinrich-Schweitzer-Straße, Ludwigsburg

Client: Wohnungsbau Ludwigsburg GmbH

Prinz Eugen Park, Munich

Client: GWG Städtische Wohnungsgesellschaft München mbH

Arnheimweg residential quarter, Münster-Gievenbeck

Client: Wohn + Stadtbau Wohnungsunternehmen der Stadt Münster GmbH

New building Neusalzer Platz, Nuremberg

Client: wbg Nürnberg GmbH real estate company

EUROPAN 12 - Residential complex with 132 units in urban Südstadt, Nuremberg

Client: wbg Nürnberg GmbH real estate company

Residential quarter for families in Litjen Wai, Sylt

Client: Municipal Property Management of the Municipality of Sylt

MODERNISATIONS:

Casa Rossa, Chemnitz

Client: Bodensteiner Fest Stroux GbR

Two-storey roof extension of a listed residential complex, Hamburg Client: Stadtboden Grundstücks GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG

Quartier Isenhöhe, Hattingen

Client: hwg eG

Schützenhofstraße high-rise residential building, Jena

Client: jenawohnen GmbH

Model modernisation of atrium houses in the student city of Freimann, Munich

Client: Munich Student Union AdöR

The Role: More Housing, More Diversity, More Life, Potsdam

Client: ProPotsdam GmbH

MAGGIE, Regensburg

Building owner: Baugenossenschaft Margaretenau eG

CONVERSIONS:

SheddachHalle, Kempten

Client: Sozialbau Kempten Wohnungs- und Städtebau GmbH

Keywords:
DE-News, Contests & Prizes, Housing

Published 10 June 2020

1.6 million euros for private eco-investments in Schleswig-Holstein

State government of Schleswig-Holstein launches climate protection support programme for citizens

Environment Minister Jan Philipp Albrecht: "Climate protection starts within our own four walls. Let's be the regenerative engine of our time together!"

KIEL: Environment Minister Jan Philipp Albrecht today presented the state's new funding programme for private investment in climate protection. It starts on Tuesday, 9 June, and includes a bundle of support measures.

"Climate protection starts within your own four walls. With the new funding programme, we are supporting citizens in making sustainable investments in the future. In this way, we can tackle climate change and develop society in a positive way. Let's be the regenerative engine of our time together!" said Albrecht. Every single investment in climate protection is important because it helps to achieve climate protection targets and conserve natural resources. "But not every investment can be afforded financially by private households. That's why we support all those who contribute to climate protection on a small scale, which helps us on a large scale. Because we can only tackle climate change together," said the Minister.

The purchase of cargo bicycles, e-charging stations, electricity storage systems, photovoltaic balcony systems, solar thermal systems, non-fossil heating systems and rainwater cisterns is subsidised. The installation of a district heating connection and a green roof are also subsidised.

The state government is providing 1.6 million euros over three years for this purpose. The amount of funding varies depending on the object and can be up to 50 per cent - in individual cases even 75 per cent - of the eligible costs. A cargo bike, for example, is subsidised with a maximum of 400 euros. An electricity storage unit can be subsidised with 800 euros and an additional 200 euros for installation and connection costs.

Private individuals who have their primary residence in Schleswig-Holstein are eligible to apply. No economic activity may be carried out in connection with the object of this grant. Only one application per person is possible for the same measure. The same measure cannot be subsidised more than once.

All details on the funding programme and the online applications can be found at
www.schleswig-holstein.de/klimaschutz

Source: PM of the Ministry for Energy Transition, Agriculture, Environment, Nature and Digitalisation from 4 June 2020

Keywords:
Renewable, Funding, Climate protection, News Blog Schleswig-Holstein, Quarters, Settlements, Transition Town, Environmental policy

Published 15 March 2022

Municipal heat turnaround: Bavaria's largest solar thermal plant

NATURSTROM is expanding its largest local heating project to date in Markt Erlbach, Franconia. In future, the eco-energy supplier will supply more than 130 customers with sustainable and locally generated heat - not only households but also municipal buildings and a large commercial enterprise. On 2,400 m² Bavaria's largest solar thermal plant is being built for this purpose.

In the current second construction phase, NATURSTROM is connecting more than 70 new heat consumers, including the largest customer, the honey bottler Breitsamer & Ulrich GmbH & Co. KG. The company is providing the land for an energy centre and Bavaria's largest solar thermal plant with an area of 2,400 m² available.

"The current turbulence on the European energy markets shows that we in Germany absolutely have to make ourselves less dependent on imports of fossil fuels," says NATURSTROM CEO Dr Tim Meyer. "With the heating turnaround towards decentralised renewable energies, we are not only doing the climate a great favour, but also ourselves and our economy. The local heating supply in Markt Erlbach is a great example of how the changeover can succeed."

Since 2019, NATURSTROM has been supplying 40 consumers with ecological heat at long-term stable prices via a wood pellet heating centre. After completion of the second construction phase, the local heating network will be 6.4 kilometres long. In addition to numerous private households and the Breitsamer company, the heat consumers also include smaller businesses and municipal buildings such as the school, the indoor swimming pool and an event hall. "We are pleased that so many and such different players in Markt Erlbach want to be part of the local heat turnaround," says Meyer.

After connecting all consumers, the total heat demand in the network is around 5,350 megawatt hours (MWh) per year; by covering this demand from renewable sources, approx. 1,800 tonnes of CO₂ saved. In addition to solar heat, NATURSTROM uses wood pellets from the region as fuel in the existing energy centre, and regional wood in the form of wood chips will also be used in the second energy centre once the second construction phase is completed. "With the raw material supply from the region, we can provide affordable and sustainable energy for our citizens in the long term. Especially for future generations, it is important to act decisively for climate protection," emphasises Markt Erlbach's First Mayor Dr Birgit Kreß.

The two energy centres and the local heating network are designed to be open to new technologies, so that modernisation and expansion to supply new consumers are possible.

The impetus for planning the local heating supply came from a renovation of the main street. The connection to the local heating network will mainly replace old, climate-damaging oil heating systems. Particularly due to the lack of gas supply infrastructure, more than 80 percent of the inhabitants in Markt Erlbach still used heating oil before the start of the first construction phase.

Source: PM Naturstrom AG

Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, News Blog Bavaria, Solar thermal

Published 10. July 2020

European Green Deal and German Council Presidency: Climate neutrality can only be achieved with ambitious climate targets

CO₂-Emissions should be reduced by 65 percent over the next ten years compared to 1990 in order to achieve climate neutrality - Energy system must be converted to 100 percent renewable energies by 2040 - Investment of 3,000 billion euros required to meet European Green Deal and Paris climate targets - German EU Council Presidency can ensure that Corona aid packages link economic stimulus with climate protection

The European Green Deal sets the bar very high: Europe is to become climate neutral by 2050. However, these targets can only be achieved if CO₂-emissions by 2030 not only by 40 percent compared to 1990, but by 65 percent. To achieve this, energy production would have to be completely converted to renewable energies by 2040. The necessary investments are high, but they will pay off. These are the most important results of a new study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). On the occasion of the German EU Council Presidency, the economists from DIW Berlin and the Technical University of Berlin involved in the study have calculated under which circumstances the goals of the European Green Deal could be achieved and what costs this would entail. "So far, the EU Commission has assumed a CO₂-reduction target of 40 percent. But this will not make Europe climate-neutral by 2050, as our calculations show. The targets must be much more ambitious," says study author Claudia Kemfert.

The authors have therefore compared a baseline scenario of 40 percent with a climate protection scenario that assumes a CO₂-reduction of 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990, as demanded by some groups in the EU Parliament. In fact, the calculations show that under these circumstances, the climate neutrality targeted in the Green Deal could be achieved. "However, this is only possible if we switch our energy system to 100 percent renewables - and do so already by 2040," says study author Karlo Hainsch. Even with a complete switch to renewables, the energy supply would remain secure, as the study's hourly calculations show - even for countries that still rely heavily on fossil or nuclear energy, such as Poland and France.

"The German EU presidency could kill two birds with one stone: economic recovery and climate protection." Christian von Hirschhausen

Such a scenario would save around 60 billion tonnes of CO₂. "However, a switch to 100 percent renewable energy cannot be had for free. Extensive investments will have to be made," says study author Leonard Göke. According to the calculations, the investment required for renewable energies amounts to around 3000 billion euros. This is an enormous amount, but it is offset by savings of almost 2000 billion euros alone, which would no longer have to be spent on importing fossil fuels. Since both the EU and most national governments in Europe have put together extensive aid packages because of the Corona crisis, these could form a good basis for supporting the necessary investments.

"The German EU Presidency could kill two birds with one stone: economic recovery and climate protection," says study author Christian von Hirschhausen. "To do so, it must ensure that the extensive stimulus packages under the European Green Deal are used for investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency." In addition, there is still the Just Transition Fund, which the EU has set up to provide financial support for structural change in the regions of Europe that are affected very differently by the measures. "Particular care must be taken to ensure that the funds are channelled into sustainable climate-neutral projects and not used for the de facto stabilisation of fossil fuel development paths," warns study author Pao-Yu Oei. The current economic crisis, which is setting new parameters worldwide and across sectors, could now be used to decisively tackle the necessary measures towards climate neutrality.

Source: DIW press release of July 8, 2020

Keywords:
Renewable, Funding, Climate protection, Mobility, Sustainable management, News Blog Europe (without DE), Resource efficiency, Transition Town, Environmental policy