4:16 min - from 9 Oct 2019
Project Info: http://sdg21.eu/db/holzhybridhaus-skaio
The German Association of Cities, the Global Parliament of Mayors and the international cities network ICLEI have joined forces to form a Cities Alliance to accompany the German G7 Presidency. The alliance is organising a conference on Tuesday, 3 May a U7 Mayors Summitwhich brings together high-level representatives of cities from the G7 countries. Representatives of the media are invited to follow the event virtually.
The international exchange is under the heading "Engaging the Urban World - Cities as Engines of Change for Peace, Democracy and Sustainability".. It is the most important event of cities in the framework of the German G7 Presidency. A joint declaration by the cities will also be adopted: In the „Urban7 Mayors Declaration“ the city leaders from the G7 countries will present their expectations of politics and business in order to meet the global challenges on the ground.
Participating and speaking as the German delegation will be:
The Mayors Round Table is also attended by city leaders from the G7 countries USA, Japan, Canada, Italy, the UK, France and the EU. Among the topics discussed at the event will be: Consequences of the war in Ukraine, role of cities in multi-level governance, impact of climate change, status of democracy, sustainable urban development, municipal development cooperation and the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Cities Summit is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global.
You will find the programme in the appendix. The event, which will last around two hours, will start at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 3 May. You can register and follow the event virtually at this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9CyoaqfGQqaf2gSGtpMhKw
A press release of the German Association of Cities and its partners will also be published for the event. Further information is available on the Summit website at: https://g7u7.org/
Keywords:
DE-News, Communities, SDG 2030, City, Environmental policy
In September, Germany's largest thermal solar plant officially went into operation in the Brandenburg city of Senftenberg. The plant was built by Stadtwerke Senftenberg on an area of around 2.2 hectares and is expected to produce around four million kilowatt hours of heat per year.
Due to its outstanding commitment to the expansion of renewable energies, the Agency for Renewable Energies awards the city of Senftenberg as Energy Municipality of the Month. "In order to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, the heating sector is of great importance. With the construction of the solar thermal plant, the city of Senftenberg presents itself as a pioneer in the municipal heat transition," says Nils Boenigk, Deputy Managing Director of the Agency for Renewable Energies.
In the city of 25,000 inhabitants, the new solar thermal plant and a natural gas heating plant generate heat that is supplied to over 10,000 households via the local district heating network. The plant consists of 1,680 tube collectors that generate heat during the average 1,700 hours of sunshine per year. In the summer months, it almost completely covers the base load. The demand in excess of this is generated by natural gas boilers. Together, the plants replace the former pulverised lignite boiler. "The new solar thermal plant brings us closer to our goal of covering more and more of the heating needs of the city of Senftenberg with renewable sources," explains Mayor Andreas Fredrich. "With the largest plant in Germany at present, we are pioneers in the application of this technology."
The project is a highlight among the local climate protection efforts resulting from the energy concept published in 2013. This concept examines and evaluates the opportunities and possibilities for the expansion of renewable energies and the economical use of energy. The city focuses primarily on the heating sector, as its heating needs account for the largest share of total energy consumption. The new thermal solar plant makes a major contribution to renewable heat generation here. In the electricity sector, where up to 90 per cent of demand was already generated from renewable sources in 2011, the city is even aiming to generate more than 100 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
"The city of Senftenberg is well positioned in the field of renewable energies," explains Mayor Andreas Fredrich. "With the help of the energy concept, municipal and regional stakeholders can more easily identify energy saving potential and plan and implement the expansion of renewable energies more effectively."
A detailed portrait of the city of Senftenberg can be found at http://www.kommunal-erneuerbar.de/de/energie-kommunen/energie-kommunen/senftenberg.html
Keywords:
Renewable, News Blog Brandenburg, Solar thermal
The Schleswig-Holstein State Building Code (LBO-SH) was amended by law on 1 October 2019. The amendments came into force at the end of October 2019. On the one hand, the amendment ends the disadvantage of timber construction in multi-storey construction and continues to create the conditions for additional living space under facilitated conditions.
Keywords:
DE-News, Wood construction, News Blog Schleswig-Holstein, Housing policy
Berlin, 18 October 2019 - Hardly any other topic has been as prominent in recent months as climate protection. A major building block in stopping man-made climate change is the implementation of the energy transition. "Renewable energies can make a huge contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Germany, in the electricity, transport and heating sectors," says Dr Robert Brandt, Managing Director of the Renewable Energy Agency (AEE). "The German population knows how important renewables are for this. Our new acceptance survey shows that people want the energy transition."
In the current representative survey of the Agency for Renewable Energies (AEE), which was conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov*, nine out of ten citizens (89 percent) are in favour of greater use of renewable energies in Germany. 66 percent even stated that the increased use and expansion of renewable energies was very and extremely important.
Only six per cent consider them to be less important or not important at all. "Citizens have clearly positioned themselves on the role of renewables in the climate issue," says AEE Managing Director Dr Robert Brandt: "Renewable energies are the most important part of the solution."
The approval of renewable energies is also reflected in the fact that 64 per cent of respondents would find it very good or somewhat good if renewable energy plants were located in their neighbourhood. This figure is only eight per cent for coal and nuclear power plants. "It is particularly remarkable that approval even increases if the respondents already have experience with these plants in their neighbourhood," says Brandt. For example, support for a solar park in one's own neighbourhood increases from 66 to 78 percent if there is already a solar park in the immediate vicinity. This positive effect can also be seen with wind energy and biogas plants.
The results of the 2019 acceptance survey clearly show that the German population is far more open to change than is generally assumed.
A total of around 6.4 billion euros was invested in the expansion and maintenance of the electricity grid in 2018. Although there have been protests against the construction of new overland power lines in recent months, overall acceptance of their expansion is very high.
86 per cent of respondents consider the expansion of overland power lines to be important or very and extremely important. For only eight per cent, this is less or not at all important.
However, it is not only electricity generation for private households that is crucial for the implementation of a successful energy transition in the fight against climate change, but also for industry. After all, final energy consumption for electricity totalled 530 billion kilowatt hours in 2017. 57 per cent of citizens surveyed believe that solar energy is the best source for industrial electricity, while 45 per cent consider offshore to be ideal. "Our acceptance survey this year shows that the majority of citizens are behind renewable energies," summarises Brandt. "We can and must show the renewables sector with words and deeds that the German population and politicians recognise and value their role in the much-needed energy transition."
Methodology
The AEE acceptance survey is a Germany-wide, population-representative survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Agency for Renewable Energies. A total of 1,003 people aged 18 and over were surveyed online. The survey was conducted between 10 and 13 September.
*This year, the Agency for Renewable Energies has changed the survey institute and the type of survey for its acceptance survey: Instead of the telephone survey by Kantar Emnid among people aged 16 and over, the online survey by YouGov was now conducted among people aged 18 and over. In this respect, comparability with the results from previous years is not readily possible.
Keywords:
100% EEs, Stakeholders, DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, New books and studies, Transition Town, Environmental policy
