0:34 min, 26.09.2012
Project Info: http://sdg21.eu/db/hundertwassersiedlung-wohnen-unterm-regenturm
The boom in the bicycle trade, which has been ongoing for years, continued in 2018. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the occasion of World Health Day on 7 April, the retail trade in bicycles, parts and accessories recorded an increase in sales of 11.9 % in real terms in 2018 compared to the previous year.
880,000 electric bikes imported into Germany
The trend towards electric bicycles with a rated continuous power of up to 250 watts is reflected in foreign trade: 880,000 electric bicycles with a total value of 789.6 million euros were imported to Germany in 2018. This corresponded to an increase in volume of 32.3 % compared to 2017. With a share of 23 % of the total imports of electric bicycles to Germany, Hungary was the most important importing country. Other important supplier countries were Vietnam with a share of 17.2 % and the Netherlands with 10.2 %.
Prices for conventional bikes are rising faster than prices for electric bikes
Consumers had to spend more money on pedelecs and e-bikes in 2018 than three years previously: between 2015 and 2018, prices in this market segment rose by 1.8 %. However, prices rose less sharply than consumer prices overall in this period (+3.8 %). In comparison, prices for bicycles without an electric motor rose by an above-average 4.5 % between 2015 and 2018.
Opportunity for bargains outside of the cycling season
Whether with or without an electric motor: consumer prices for bicycles fluctuate slightly depending on the time of year. Bicycles are cheaper around the turn of the year than in summer. If you are looking for good value for money, you can buy cheaper on average outside the cycling season.
Source: Press release of the Federal Statistical Office from 3 April 2019
Keywords:
Stakeholders, Bike-/Velo-City, DE-News, Climate protection, Mobility, Sustainable management, Ecology
Net public electricity generation reached a record share of 59.7 per cent in 2023. The share of the load was 57.1 per cent. This is the result of an analysis presented today by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. New records were set for wind and solar power in 2023. In contrast, generation from lignite (-27 per cent) and hard coal (-35 per cent) fell sharply. Photovoltaics stood out in the expansion of generation capacity: at around 14 gigawatts, the expansion was in double digits for the first time and significantly exceeded the German government's statutory climate protection target. Source of the data is the platform energy-charts.info
Photovoltaic systems generated approx. 59.9 TWh in 2023, of which 53.5 TWh was fed into the public grid and 6.4 TWh was used for self-consumption. At around 9 TWh, June 2023 was the month with the highest solar power generation ever. The maximum solar output of 40.1 GW was reached on 7 July at 13:15, which corresponded to a 68% share of electricity generation. In 2023, the expansion of photovoltaics significantly exceeded the German government's targets: instead of the planned 9 gigawatts, 13.2 gigawatts were installed by November; according to preliminary data, this will be more than 14 gigawatts by the end of 2023. This is a sharp increase compared to 2022 (7.44 GW). This means that PV expansion in Germany has reached double digits for the first time.
The Hydropower increased from 17.5 TWh in 2022 to 20.5 TWh. The installed capacity of 4.94 GW has hardly changed compared to previous years.
The Biomass at 42.3 TWh was at the level of 2022 (42.2 TWh). The installed capacity is 9 GW.
In total, the renewable energies approx. 260 TWh in 2023, around 7.2 per cent more than in the previous year (242 TWh). The share of renewable energy generated in Germany in the load, i.e. the electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket, was 57.1 per cent compared to 50.2 per cent in 2022. In addition to net public electricity generation, total net electricity generation also includes in-house generation by industry and commerce, which is mainly generated using gas. The share of renewable energies in total net electricity generation, including the power plants of "businesses in the manufacturing, mining and quarrying sectors", is around 54.9 per cent (2022: 48.2 per cent).
The Load in the electricity grid totalled 457 TWh, around 26 TWh less than in 2022. Due to the high electricity prices and higher temperatures, electricity was probably saved significantly. The increase in self-consumption of solar power is also reducing the load. The load includes the electricity consumption and grid losses, but not the pumped-storage power consumption and the self-consumption of conventional power plants.
After German coal-fired power plants ramped up their production in 2022 - due to the outage of French nuclear power plants, but also due to the distortions in the electricity market caused by the war in Ukraine - their share fell significantly in 2023. As a result, generation in November 2023 was 27 per cent below the same month in the previous year due to the drop in coal-fired electricity exports, but also because of the good wind conditions.
Overall, production from Lignite for public electricity consumption fell by around 27 per cent, from 105.9 to 77.5 TWh. This is in addition to 3.7 TWh for industrial own consumption. Gross electricity generation fell to the level of 1963.
Net production from Hard coal-fired power plants for public electricity consumption was 36.1 TWh (-35 per cent) and 0.7 TWh for industrial own consumption. It was 21.4 TWh lower than in 2022. Gross electricity generation fell to the level of 1955. Natural gas for electricity generation remained slightly below the previous year's level at 45.8 TWh for public electricity supply and 29.6 for industrial own consumption. Due to the shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants in Emsland, Neckarwestheim and Isar on 15 April 2023, the Nuclear power only contributed 6.72 TWh to electricity generation, which corresponds to a share of 1.5 per cent.
The expansion of fluctuating renewable energies also increases the need for grid expansion and storage capacity. Battery storage systems, which are installed on a decentralised basis to buffer the generation of wind and solar power, are particularly suitable. The private household segment is showing strong growth, as is the case with photovoltaic systems. Overall, installed battery capacity almost doubled from 4.4 GW in 2022 to 7.6 GW in 2023, while storage capacity rose from 6.5 GWh to 11.2 GWh. The capacity of German pumped storage plants is around 6 GW.
After an export surplus of 27.1 TWh was achieved in electricity trading in 2022, an import surplus of 11.7 TWh was recorded in 2023. This was due in particular to the lower electricity generation costs in neighbouring European countries in the summer and the high costs of CO2-certificates. The majority of imports came from Denmark (10.7 TWh), Norway (4.6 TWh) and Sweden (2.9 TWh). Germany exported electricity to Austria (5.8 TWh) and Luxembourg (3.6 TWh).
In winter, electricity exchange prices rose again and CO2-certificates became more favourable. This already led to a balance in November and, in conjunction with high wind power generation, to export surpluses in December. In contrast to its neighbouring countries (Austria, Switzerland, France), Germany also has sufficient power plant capacity in winter to produce electricity for export.
The average volume-weighted day-ahead price Exchange electricity price fell sharply to €92.29/MWh or 9.23 cents/kWh (2022: €230.57/MWh). This puts it back at the 2021 level.
A detailed presentation of the data on electricity generation, imports/exports, prices, installed capacity, emissions and climate data can be found on the Energy Charts Server:
www.energy-charts.info/downloads/Stromerzeugung_2023.pdf
The data basis
This first version of the annual evaluation takes into account all electricity generation data from the Leipzig electricity exchange EEX and the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) up to and including 31 December 2023. The quarter-hourly values from the EEX were energetically corrected using the available monthly data from the Federal Statistical Office on electricity generation up to September 2023. For the remaining months, the correction factors were estimated on the basis of past monthly and annual data. The extrapolated values from October to December are subject to larger tolerances.
This is based on the data for the German Net electricity generation to the public electricity supply. It is the difference between gross electricity generation and the power plants' own consumption and is fed into the public grid. The electricity industry calculates with net figures, e.g. for electricity trading and grid utilisation, and only net electricity generation is traded on the electricity exchanges. It represents the electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket at home.
Hourly updated data on electricity generation can be found here: https://www.energy-charts.info
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, New books and studies, PV, Environmental policy
Demand Paper of the Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin of 9 March 2018
In order to promote the construction of affordable housing, an alliance of young cooperatives was founded in Berlin in 2017. "Housing cooperatives have been a cornerstone of the socially responsible and affordable housing market in Berlin for well over 100 years," notes Bremer Höhe cooperative board member and Alliance spokesman Ulf Heitmann. "In order to maintain the share of cooperative housing alone, which is currently around twelve percent, more than 20,000 cooperative apartments would have to be built in the coming years in view of the rapid population growth," Heitmann calculates.
The alliance also considers the cooperative development of building land in Berlin to be a failure: in order to reduce the rents for one third of the new apartments, the price for the remaining two thirds is being driven up even further - with fatal consequences for the market as a whole.
Moreover, small and medium-sized cooperatives in particular, which have only been operating on the market for a few years, would be systematically thwarted - contrary to what the red-red-green coalition agreement in the capital promised: "The young cooperatives do not have the necessary equity capital for financing overpriced plots of land and for construction. As a result, prospective buyers would have to bring higher deposits - making cooperative building unattractive despite low interest rates." In view of the skyrocketing land prices in Berlin, the new Alliance of Young Cooperatives is calling for completely new allocation procedures and financing instruments.
Good idea instead of even more money
This includes the massive activation of public building land and the allocation via quality and concept procedures instead of a price competition. "The success of the building groups in the first 2000s showed it: social and integrative aspects must play a much greater role if housing construction is to find public acceptance," argues Andreas Barz, co-alliance spokesman and CEO of the Studentendorf Genossenschaft.
In concrete terms, the initiative therefore calls for a scoring procedure to be applied when awarding public building land, in which, for example, low-cost, space-efficient or experimental construction and housing, social criteria such as inclusive housing projects for refugees, intergenerational or student housing, the provision of community facilities such as kindergartens or neighbourhood shops, low-car or ecological housing would be assessed using a points catalogue. The points score would also be rated higher than the price offered. In addition, the alliance of 25 cooperatives advocates diversity in the allocation process and therefore proposes that individual housing cooperatives be allocated a maximum of two public areas.
In addition, the Alliance of Young Housing Cooperatives is calling for equity replacement as a new funding tool. "It would be most effective to provide the young cooperatives with 20 percent of the total costs for land and construction as a lost grant, i.e. as a non-repayable subsidy.
As a further funding instrument for low-income households, the Alliance recommends that cooperative shares also be financed via KfW loans - this would help low-income households in particular, such as single parents or pensioners. "The current practice of building subsidies completely misses their needs. Even new instruments such as the Baukindergeld, which has been discussed for weeks, only benefit those who already have equity capital and collect this state subsidy on the side - those who do not bring any equity capital with them remain outside," Barz complains. "We counter this with the financing of cooperative shares via KfW, in order to also offer low-income earners a perspective on the hotly contested housing market."
About the Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin
The Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin was launched in the summer of 2017. The alliance includes 25 Berlin building and housing cooperatives - among them well-known citywide cooperatives such as the "Bremer Höhe" eG, the Studentendorf Schlachtensee cooperative, the Möckernkiez cooperative, which will be ready for occupancy this year after a difficult financing phase, and sponsors of internationally renowned projects such as the Spreefeld in the Mitte district.
The demand paper is presented at the recent construction site of the housing cooperative "Am Ostseeplatz" in Lynarstraße, Weddingen, which was one of the winners of the 2015 competition for Experimental Multi-storey Housing in Berlin with this community housing project.
Member cooperatives
Agora baut eG | Atelierhaus-Genossenschaft-Berlin eG | Baugenossenschaft "Besser Genossenschaftlich Wohnen von 2016" eG | Bau- und Wohnungsgenossenschaft Spreefeld eG | Forum Kreuzberg Wohngenossenschaft eG | Freiraumkooperative eG | Genossinnenschaft Schokofabrik eG | genowo Genossenschaft für Wohnprojekte eG | habitat eG | Mietergenossenschaft rs20 eG | Mietergenossenschaft SelbstBau eG | Mietergenossenschaft Unionsplatz Tiergarten eG | Möckernkiez Genossenschaft für selbstverwaltetes, social and ecological housing eG | Neues Wohnen Hellersdorf eG | Selbstbaugenossenschaft Berlin eG | Selbstverwaltete Ostberliner GenossInnenschaft (S.O.G.) eG | Spastikerhilfe Berlin eG | Stadtbürgergenossenschaft
von 2010 eG | Studentendorf Schlachtensee eG | urban coop berlin eg | WiBeG - Wohnungsgenossenschaft in Berlin eG | Wiesenstraße29 eG | Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft "Am Ostseeplatz" eG | Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft "Bremer Höhe" eG | Wohnungsgenossenschaft Mollstraße eG
download pdf of the claim paper
Website and contact of the Alliance of Young Cooperatives Berlin
http://junge-genossenschaften.berlin
Keywords:
Stakeholders, Cohousing, News Blog Berlin, Mix of uses, Quarters, Housing policy, Housing projects
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
