Almost 30,000 cyclists came to the rally in Hamburg to demonstrate for better cycling conditions. The highlight for many participants: the tour over the Köhlbrand Bridge.
Click here for the NDR video about the rally: Thousands of cyclists at rally in Hamburg
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.
Link
Vote for a speed limit now! www.duh.de/tempolimit-jetzt
Source: DUH-PM from 19.5.2021
Keywords:
Bike-/Velo-City, DE-News, Climate protection, Mobility, News Blog Europe (without DE), Sufficiency, Transition Town, Environmental policy
Düsseldorf. In North Rhine-Westphalia, an approach was developed in close cooperation between the state government and the EnergyAgency.NRW with the project "100 Climate Protection Housing Estates in NRW", which aims to reduce energy consumption and CO2-emissions from residential buildings. So far, 93 settlement concepts with a total of around 7,000 flats and houses for 17,000 people have been awarded the status of "Climate Protection Settlement NRW" by a commission of experts.
In the 42 climate protection settlements already completed, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies are combined in an exemplary manner and innovative solutions are demonstrated for both new construction and the renovation of existing buildings. Around 6,500 citizens already live in a climate protection settlement in the most populous federal state.
"North Rhine-Westphalia has developed into a very important location in the field of sustainable construction and housing. The project of 100 climate protection housing estates is attracting great interest throughout Europe and shows that with consistent and sustainable planning, affordable projects of energy-efficient construction or renovation can also be implemented. The settlements range from rental housing in apartment buildings to owner-occupied homes and senior housing complexes," says Andreas Gries, the responsible thematic area manager at EnergyAgency.NRW.
All 93 NRW locations on the internet:
www.energieagentur.nrw/klimaschutzsiedlungen
Keywords:
Quarters, Settlements
The industry figures published annually by BVES show a fundamentally positive development in retrospect for 2020 and in the forecast for 2021. Across all technologies and segments, sales in the energy storage industry grew by over 10 percent to EUR 7.1 billion in 2020.
The growth drivers are the trends towards system integration, flexible sector coupling and electromobility, particularly in the household and commercial sectors. 300,000 home storage units alone are now installed in households and ensure a secure self-supply of green energy in the electricity, heating and mobility sectors. 300,000 home storage units provide 2.3 GWh of green electricity, enough for the annual washing of more than 20,000 households or to drive an e-car around the world more than 170 times.
Urban Windelen, Federal Managing Director BVES: "An addition of over 100,000 home storage units alone in one year is a great result. And at the same time a clear signal that citizens in households, commerce and industry increasingly want to rely on storage technologies to make their energy supply secure, green and cost-efficient. Politicians should finally listen to this signal and provide the highly innovative German storage industry with a suitable framework for its products. Relying solely on grid expansion and squeezing people into an outdated energy system will not be enough for a successful energy transition."
While the household segment was able to grow disproportionately in the Corona year 2020, the industrial and commercial storage segment suffered a decline of around 20 percent due to the pandemic. Germany also continues to evade the international trend towards the increased use of large-scale storage in the system infrastructure. This market segment is stagnating at a low level. The trend towards hydrogen solutions finds a difficult environment in Germany, so that market applications on an industrial scale cannot (yet) establish themselves. In contrast, thermal storage systems are developing well and are increasingly being used in industry in particular, contributing to decarbonisation.
Overall, the industry expects a significant recovery of the storage market in the industrial segment in 2021. The drivers here are flexible sector coupling in the direction of heat, the trend towards electromobility with clever charging solutions including storage, and self-supply solutions with green electricity to green hydrogen.
"Without energy storage, the energy transition is missing something. This is becoming increasingly obvious. Technically, the industry can do pretty much anything. Various technologies for all sectors and all applications are ready and operational. Now all that needs to be done is to finally release the regulatory brakes. Especially if we want to secure and support the domestic technical excellence and high value creation of the industry in Germany and Europe." says Urban Windelen.
The BVES industry figures 2021 are available via this link available.
The occasion for the publication is the international conference ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 2021, organized by BVES in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe and EUROSOLAR e.V.. The two-day online conference ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 2021 will feature parallel discussion panels and workshops on current trends in the storage industry.
Source: PM of the Bundesverband Energiespeicher from
Keywords:
DE-News, Energy storage, Renewable, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement, Electricity storage
On the Sustainable Building Rating System (NBB), a new version of fact sheets is to be published shortly. In addition, the new eBNB system for the implementation of the NBB during planning and construction is about to be launched.
Keywords:
NBB, DE-News, Certification & Labels
