Sea sand is a sought-after building material - so sought-after that beaches are being plundered everywhere. Researchers now want to tap the desert instead.
Go to the post from 7/1/2017:
www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/baustoff-der-welt-geht-der-sand-aus-1.3588083
With funding from the federal support programme "Unternehmen Revier", the Factor X agency of the development company has developed an internet-based tool for the simple calculation of the resource efficiency of one's own building project. The tool has now undergone final testing and will be available online from September.
With the Factor X construction method, the entire life cycle of buildings is considered, resulting in many new opportunities for saving raw materials and thus for climate- and resource-saving construction. Until now, the resource efficiency of buildings has been calculated using a spreadsheet as part of the Factor X Agency's construction consultancy service. This is now to be made even easier by the new online tool, which will be accessible to the public via the Internet. The database-based tool was realised with funding from the federal support programme "Unternehmen Revier".
At the invitation of the Fakor X agency, the almost completed online tool was subjected to a final test. Fifteen testers from science, administration and building practice checked the user guidance and calculated test buildings. The concept was praised by all testers. A few suggestions for improvement are still being incorporated into the programming before the online tool is released in September and will then be available.
Initiator Klaus Dosch, head of the Factor X Agency of the indeland development company, is enthusiastic: "Here we are setting up a tool for climate- and resource-friendly construction that does not yet exist in Europe. Even non-specialists interested in construction are supported by our tool in such a way that they can very easily calculate the resource efficiency of their building project. We have created a link to the building materials database of the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR). For the first time, we are making the construction life cycle understandable for laypeople."
Improving resource efficiency in the construction of housing estates is an essential part of the strategy of the indeland 2030 master plan of the development company indeland GmbH. A number of strategies lead to the achievement of these goals and have been tested in the Faktor X settlements in Eschweiler and Inden. With the development of strategies and projects for sustainable building and living, indeland has long since taken on a lighthouse function far beyond the region. Together with the exhibition already opened in May, the tool is intended to contribute to the illustration and dissemination of the Factor X strategies.
There are five Factor X settlements listed in the sdg21 web database:
www.faktor-x.siedlungen.eu
Keywords:
Building materials / Construction, DE-News, Faktor X / ResScore, Wood construction, Climate protection, NaWaRohs, News Blog NRW, Resource efficiency, Settlements, Tools, Certification & Labels, Life cycle assessment, Ecology
In the interview worth reading Migration and Urban Planning: "We Can Immigration" in the taz of 14.6.2016, Leggewie refers to the urban Chilean designer Alejandro Aravena, who builds half a house for a few thousand US dollars so that the other half can be designed by the residents themselves. Aravena was recently awarded the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel Prize for architects.
Keywords:
DE-News, Refugee shelters, Social / Culture, Housing policy
Good news for the PV industry: The solar cap will be abolished and solar expansion will be further promoted. The photovoltaic potential in Germany is enormous - especially when it comes to using roof space on new buildings. The new LichtBlick SolarCheck now shows in detail how well the 14 largest German cities are currently exploiting this potential. Enormous differences are revealed: While Nuremberg (49.1%) and Hanover (46.8%) exploit almost half of their potential, Munich and Düsseldorf do not even reach the 10 percent hurdle. The absolute taillight: the Hanseatic city of Hamburg with only 7.2 percent - one more reason for the solar obligation for new buildings planned by the mayor's office.
To calculate the solar potential of the individual cities, the newly built roof areas were put in relation to the newly installed photovoltaic systems in the respective cities in 2018 (most recent figures). The result: the PV potential on roofs is barely exploited in most metropolitan regions in Germany. Yet every new roof without a solar installation is a wasted opportunity for climate protection and a consumer-oriented power supply. The vast majority of people in Germany want solar power from their roofs*.1
In view of the sobering results of the SolarCheck, Ralph Kampwirth, Head of Corporate Communications at LichtBlick, said: "We must finally bring the energy turnaround to the big cities - and the best way to do that is with solar power from the roof. Discussions about distance regulations for wind power or the use of agricultural land for PV plants show that the responsibility should not only lie with the rural population."
Converted to German households (average consumption 3,000 kWh), the possibilities of the individual cities become apparent: If Munich had fully exploited the potential of the new building roof areas, you could have supplied more than 10,000 households with solar power with the new solar areas built in 2018 alone, Hamburg around 11,500 households, in Berlin it would be 16,200 households." Especially in the megacities, only a small fraction of this is developed, as the SolarCheck shows.
About the research method: The market research company Statista determined the number of newly constructed residential and commercial buildings in 2018 for the 14 German cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants on the basis of data from the State Offices for Statistics and calculated the respective roof areas using scientifically based conversion factors.
Background information on the SolarCheck can be found here:
www.lichtblick.de/.../2020_Hintergrund_Solarcheck2020.pdf (2.83 MB)
*1 representative survey by YouGov in January 2020, see: lichtblick.de/press
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Communities, New books and studies, News Blog Bavaria, News Blog Lower Saxony, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement, Transition Town
On 27 September 2017, the IBA_LAB, the symposium of the International Building Exhibition (IBA) Heidelberg, will take place for the fifth time in a row. This year, for the first time, discussants and guests will meet in the German capital Berlin to broaden their perspective and discuss the question of the "Knowledge City of Tomorrow" in conversation - all in preparation for the IBA's major interim presentation in 2018.
The keynote speech at the evening reception will be given by Wolfgang Lotter, co-founder of brand eins. We will discuss the city in the knowledge society with Theresia Bauer, Minister of Science of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Undine Giseke, Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Open Space Planning at the TU Berlin, Volker Hassemer, former senator and board member of the Stiftung Zukunft Berlin, Jürgen Odszuck, Mayor of the City of Heidelberg, philosopher and author Rebekka Reinhard and Alexander Rieck from the Fraunhofer Institute.
The LAB deals in particular with the IBA Heidelberg's guiding question: How must the European city transform itself to meet the demands of tomorrow's knowledge society? From 2012 to 2022, the IBA wants to initiate and implement building projects and processes around the knowledge society and its guiding theme Knowledge | Creates | City. The primary aim is to focus questions of social change on their urban planning and architectural dimensions. In cooperation with the board of trustees, the IBA Heidelberg developed 4+1 more precise focal themes: Sciences, Learning Spaces, Networking, Material Cycles and overarching Co-production. Until 2022, the building projects are intended to give a selective impression of how the "knowledge city of tomorrow" will look in terms of architecture and planning.
Discourse at international level on the knowledge city of tomorrow is indispensable. That's why the IBA is looking for answers with appropriate knowledge transfer via existing and new networks - as was the case at this year's IBA_LAB N°5.
Theses on the "Knowledge City of Tomorrow" are also presented in the IBA Heidelberg's first publication, the recently published IBA_LOGBook N°1 thematised.Participation in IBA_LAB N°5 is free of charge. Please register by 20 September 2017 at www.iba.heidelberg.de.
The event is recognised by the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects as continuing education for three hours.
Keywords:
Stakeholders, DE-News, IBA, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, News Blog Berlin, Quarters
