A film by French philosopher Philippe Simay on arte.tv In this episode, the philosopher visits the region of Vorarlberg in Austria, the international model for ecological and sustainable architecture.
Documentary Series - 27 min:
www.arte.tv/guide/de/057411-010-A/in-der-welt-zuhause
Other countries are leading the way: Spain adopts 30 km/h speed limit in cities; French cities with 30 km/h speed limit have 70 percent fewer fatal accidents
Federal government fails "Vision Zero" and ignores 30 km/h as an immediate measure in key points paper for new road safety programme
Current United Nations Road Safety Week identifies reduction of speed limit to 30 km/h in built-up areas as key measure to protect lives
Berlin, 19.5.2021: The German Environmental Aid (DUH) renews its demand for a reduced speed limit of 30 km/h in built-up areas as an immediate measure to prevent traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Last week, Spain reduced the speed limit on main roads to 30 km/h with immediate effect. The United Nations Road Safety Week is currently underway under the slogan #love30. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also called for a global 30 km/h speed limit in towns and villages.
To do this Jürgen Resch, federal managing director of DUH: "More and more countries are leading the way and proving that 30 km/h in built-up areas not only reduces the number and severity of traffic accidents, but also reduces noise pollution, improves air quality and enhances the quality of life. In our neighbouring country France, 30 km/h speed limits have already been in force in 200 cities since 2020 and have led to a 70 percent reduction in fatal accidents there. Our call for 30 km/h in built-up areas, which is now also supported by the World Health Organization, is consistent and should be implemented in Germany before the end of 2021. It is now well known that Mr Scheuer is not adopting any sensible measures to increase road safety. However, at least from the Greens we expect a clear positioning here: no coalition agreement without 30 km/h in our cities!"
The rapid implementation of 30 km/h is particularly urgent because the German government has failed miserably with the "Vision Zero" goal enshrined in the coalition agreement. By 2020, the number of accident fatalities was supposed to be reduced by 40 percent. With the measures taken by the Federal Government, there has only been a meagre 25 percent reduction in accident fatalities since 2010. Since the end of 2020, moreover, Germany has had to manage entirely without a current road safety programme because the old programme has expired. Nevertheless, the federal government's key issues paper, which serves as the basis for the new road safety programme 2021-2030, completely ignores a reduction in the speed limit as a solution.
Berlin, 9 January 2020 - One of the Herculean tasks in achieving the climate targets is to radically reduce CO2 emissions from the heating supply. A research group led by the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) is showing how cities can move away from coal, oil and gas in a socially responsible way. The "Urban Heat Transition" project analysed possible contributions from renewable energies and local heat sources in Berlin's urban districts. "Waste heat from businesses, heat from waste water or geothermal energy have hardly been utilised to date. The key to such environmentally friendly heat are neighbourhood concepts and heating networks," says project manager Bernd Hirschl from the IÖW. "An important prerequisite is a more efficient building stock. Only if the heat demand is significantly reduced can environmentally friendly heat sources be utilised efficiently."
In the three-year project, the project team from the IÖW, the University of Bremen and the Technical University of Berlin worked together with the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to develop local heating concepts for three Berlin neighbourhoods. At the end of 2019, they discussed their results with the heating industry in Berlin, and the documentation of the conference is now available online at www.urbane-waermewende.de.
Developing nuclei for the heat transition
"Previous neighbourhood concepts were often too complex, had too many different stakeholders and often ended up in a drawer. That's why we recommend a nucleus approach," says Elisa Dunkelberg from the IÖW. These could be public buildings, new construction projects, commercial buildings or housing associations and co-operatives.
The researchers show what a neighbourhood concept can look like for an old building district in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf: Firstly, the heat demand must be reduced through energy-efficient refurbishment. The heat can be generated using a wastewater heat pump, which is partly powered by solar electricity generated on site, in combination with combined heat and power generation. "Particularly in the case of public buildings, which have a pioneering role - enshrined in law in Berlin - it should always be checked in the case of refurbishment and new buildings whether they are suitable as a nucleus for a neighbourhood concept and the co-supply of surrounding buildings," emphasises Dunkelberg.
Climate-neutral district heating: utilising waste heat and renewables
District heating plays a major role in urban areas. "To become climate-neutral, it is important to integrate more local heat sources from wastewater, river water and geothermal energy as well as waste heat into district heating," says Hirschl, adding that attention must also be paid to the resilience of the heat generation system. A joint case study with the Neukölln district heating plant shows that it is possible to utilise local heat sources. But it needs to be tested technically and requires supporting financial measures. The next steps should now be test drilling for deep geothermal energy, for example, as well as pilot plants that use large heat pumps to provide wastewater or river water heat for district heating. Strategies for funding and risk protection are needed for investment in these technologies, some of which are untested and highly expensive.
Heat transition requires municipal strategic heat planning - and social compatibility
"Municipal heat planning, which has long been standard practice in pioneering countries such as Denmark and in other federal states and municipalities for some time, helps to tap into the identified potential," emphasises Hirschl. The basis for this is a heat register that visualises heat sources such as waste water and commercial waste heat. This can also be used to identify neighbourhoods for cross-building concepts. With sector coupling, it is also important that local authorities and cities plan across infrastructures. Instruments such as urban land-use planning and urban development contracts must be geared towards climate neutrality.
Low refurbishment rates in recent years show that purely incentive-based measures are not enough to ensure energy modernisation. The researchers therefore recommend implementing the regulations more strongly and developing a step-by-step plan to guide the building stock towards climate neutrality. At the same time, subsidies must be increased and conditions for passing on rent must be made more socially acceptable. A step-by-step plan under the conditions of a rent cap must be designed in such a way that energy modernisation is economically reasonable for both landlords and tenants.
Federal Ministry of Education and Research funds "Urban Heat Transition" project for another two years
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the project in a new partner constellation for a further two years in order to test solution strategies for the central obstacles to implementation and to anchor the research results in municipal heat planning. In addition to the IÖW, the partners are Berliner Wasserbetriebe and the law firm Becker Büttner Held.
The prize has been organised since 2005 by the Senator for the Environment, Building and Transport in cooperation with the Federal Chamber of Architects. Previously known as the Bremer Bauherrenpreis, the competition recognises the commitment of builders in Bremen and Bremerhaven. The aim is to showcase the range of services offered by housing construction in the state of Bremen and to provide impetus for future building projects.
The next award ceremony will take place in spring 2018.
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