IFEU news

Environmental balances for electric mobility: interactive environment calculator is now online!

01.02.2012 Electric vehicles can provide an important contribution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector if electricity from renewable sources is used. In the UMBReLA project, with funding from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), IFEU provided the environmental assessment of BMU funded R&D projects regarding electric mobility in Germany over the last three years. The environmental performance of electric and conventionally fueled cars was compared over their entire life cycle. The results of the research are available now:

As an interactive environmental calculation (in German) where you one compare different types of vehicle concepts according to specific personal circumstances

Facts and figures on the UMBReLA project and to electric vehicles can be found on our homepage www.emobil-umwelt.de (in German)

Download of the comprehensive summary report as well as the in-depth scientific report
(in German)

Press release of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety on the UMBReLA project

Federal Environment Minister Röttgen presents short study regarding climate protection and economic success

20.01.2012 Climate protection and economic success can go hand in hand. This is the result of a new short study presented by Federal Environment Minister Dr. Norbert Röttgen during the presentation of the Innovation Awards for Climate and Environment 2011 at Berlin. The research organizations gws Osnabrück and IFEU Heidelberg prepared a study analyzing the economic impacts of energy efficiency and renewable energy. The short study is based on two in-depth research projects that were funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). In summary, increased energy efficiency and the expansion of renewable energy production are associated with positive economic effects and lead to additional jobs, increased energy security and new chances for exports.

The short version (in German) is found here ... (pdf 1,47 MB)
The entire study (in German) is found here ... (pdf 6,7 MB)

A call for a reliable, long-term and courageous energy efficiency policy

18.01.2012 Open letter to the Federal government and the members of the German Federal Parliament Committee on the Environment and Committee on Economics.

2012 is the United Nations „International Year of Sustainable Energy for All”. At the same time, the German Federal Government has established ambitious goals for a change in energy policy. Our policy on future energy efficiency and energy conservation must comply with these goals. However, there is a widening discrepancy between the goals and the actual policy. Initiated by IFEU, more than 30 scientists working in the energy field signed an open letter:

... the online publication DIE ZEIT, 18.01.2012 (in German)

... directly to the "Open Letter" (in German)

Governance for sustainable development in megacities – IFEU presents at the COP17/CMP7 in Durban, South Africa

30.11.2011 – Durban, South Africa
At a well visited side-event at the UN climate protection conference, three projects from the Future Megacities program funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) presented the results of their work. The main focus was on case studies of low carbon city development, adapted technology development, smart energy efficiency and climate change adaptation with a particular focus on people's participation and governance. For IFEU, scientific director Bernd Franke (photo) explained the achievements of the RECAST Urumqi project with Chinese partners, including the construction of low-carbon buildings and energy conservation in the chemical industry.

More informationen… (Website Urumqi)

Cover story "Bringing blue skies back to Urumqi" (Urban World 2011, pdf 469 KB)

An ambitious energy efficiency policy for Germany:
Economic benefits from innovative funding approaches

20.10.2011 An ambitious energy efficiency policy for Germany will lead to significant economic benefits. The additional investments into the German economy combined with the savings of energy imports as well as other economic mechanisms will generate a net effect of 130,000 new jobs by 2030, compared to a reference scenario. This is the result of the study „Energy efficieny: potentials, economic effects and innovative areas of action and funding approaches for the National Climate Initiative”. It was funded by the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and was presented to the public on 20 October 2011 at a conference in Berlin.

Complete press release (in German)

Project website (in German)

Best Practice Guide "Climate Protection in Cities"

12.10.2011 The Best Practice Guide was developed by the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu) in cooperation with IFEU and the Climate Alliance (Klimabündnis). Funding was received from the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
The 1997 version of the Guide has been extensively used by cites and other local governments in Germany. It was completely revised and extended to cover new focal points and areas of activities. As in the old version, the updated Best Practice Guide contains many practical and up-to-date examples that should motivate local governments to try these or other activities for climate protection.


More information (in German) ...

Sustainable Chemistry: Research report published

22.08.2011 The Federal Environment Ministry of Germany has funded IFEU’s research project „Evaluation of Strategies for Chemical Safety and Continuous Development of a Sustainable Chemistry in Germany“. The project’s final report has now been published where sustainability initiatives of major chemical companies were compared, general principles for sustainable chemistry are suggested and efforts on administrative level were evaluated.
An important component was analyzed in detail: a European database for chemical substances in household products, following the example of the Household Product Database (HPDB) of the National Library of Medicine in the USA. In addition, a pathway to verify the sustainability of renewable feedstocks in the chemical industry was outlined.


More information ...

2011 Awards for Excellence

10.08.2011 The paper entitled "Biomass for transport heat and electricity: scientific challenges, published in "Management of Environmental Quality" (March 210) has been chosen as a Highly Commended Paper at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2011. Nils Rettenmaier (IFEU) is one of the co-authors of the paper.

First zero-emission house in Urumqi

Opening of the Sino-German Research Basis at ZhongTai Chemical Company

17.07.2011
Urumqi, Xinjiang Province/China
IFEU contributed to the energy retrofit in which an agricultural education center with a net heated area of 769 m² was transformed into the first zero-emission house in the provincial capital with a population of 3.1 million. The heating energy demand was reduced by more than 85 % by a variety of measures. The remaining heat demand of 64 kWh/m²*a in the very cold winters is supplied by solar heating with an innovative seasonal storage; the entire demand of electricity is provided by a photovoltaic system. IFEUs work was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Future Megacities research programme. The lord mayor of Heidelberg, Dr. Eckart Würzner was present at the completion ceremony. IFEU was supported by Culturebridge Architects Grünstadt/Beijing and the Passiv House Institute in Darmstadt/Germany; the local cooperation partners are the Construction Committee of Urumqi, the University of Xinjiang and the Xinjiang New Energy Institute. IFEU project director Bernd Franke declared: „With this lighthouse project the annual emissions of 88 tonnes of CO2 will now be avoided. The next project, the construction of the first passive house in Xingfulu (Happiness Rd.) in Urumqi will start in a few weeks."

On the same day, as part of the same BMBF sponsored project, there was the opening ceremony of the Sino-German Research Basis at ZhongTai Chemical Company, one of the largest PVC producers of China. Together with the local cooperation partner Xinjiang Academy of Environmental Protection Science and the Heidelberg-based Institute für Eco-Industrial Analyses (IUWA), IFEU is searching for ways to increase the energy efficiency and to improve the recycling of water and waste at the plant.

More information… (Website Urumqi)

100 MW Top load gas turbine by HSE under construction in Darmstadt: IFEU prepared the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment)

15.04.2011 In order to expand the production of electricity from renewable sources, gas turbine are a needed complement that can be fired up quickly to counter fluctuations of wind and solar energy. For this reason, HSE is building two modern and highly efficient peak load gas turbine plant in Darmstadt/Germany. The 100 MW plant will start operation in spring of 2012 (see photo, source: HSE). IFEU has prepared the environmental impact assessment for the successful licensing of the plant.

More information ...

Criteria for the sustainable acquisition of wood like biomass for electricity and heat production in the state of Berlin

11.04.2011 To protect the climate the state of Berlin and Vattenfall Europe AG wants to increase the use of wood for electricity and heat generation. To ensure the sustainable acquisition of wood, Berlin and Vattenfall have signed an agreement which sets out relevant criteria. IFEU was commissioned by the two partners to develop the criteria, to come up with a recommended handling system while including broader issues such as formulating the indirect effects and conduct a benchmark of appropriate certification systems.

More information ...

A signal for change: efficiency, energy saving and renewable energy as an alternative to nuclear power

March 2011 The catastrophy in Fukushima shows: a fundamental reconstruction of our energy system is necessary. "A sustainable energy system must be based on efficiency, energy saving and renewable energy" said Markus Duscha, IFEU’s executive director. Since its beginning in 1978, scientists at IFEU have had a critical eye on the use of nuclear energy and are still carrying out projects in radioecology and radiation protection. One example of our work is the study “The consequences of Chernobyl” (in German as pdf). We are strongly committed to this tradition.
Our recommendations for the current situation are summarized here.

More information ...

UMBReLA - Environmental assessment of electric mobility

22.03.2011 In the UMBReLA project IFEU consolidates results with relevance for an environmental assessment from a number of electric mobility research projects and fleets tests. In addition to this comprehensive environmental assessment of different types of battery electric mobility, an internet platform is developed which gives an overview on electric mobility research activities and will offer an online calculation tool for environmental impacts.

More information (in German)... (UMBReLA-Website)

Concrete: It depends on how you make it

21.03.2011 Recycling concrete from treated construction debris has a tremendous potential to reduce pollution. In practice though, RC Concrete has been adopted slowly. This is partly because practitioners still know too little about the material. On behalf of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport IFEU gathered the most important practical information for builders, planners and businesses in the brochure “RC Concrete in construction – Information for developers, planners and businesses”. The brochure also contains a guide for recycling construction waste and concrete transport companies with the experience from concrete construction projects in Stuttgart and Heilbronn. More information at www.rc-beton.de.

More information ... download in German: "RC Concrete in construction – Information for developers, planners and businesses", (pdf 3,6 MB)

IFEU donates 5,000 euro's to a rainwater irrigation project in Rwanda

25.02.2011 In 2009, our staff flew a total of 462,910 kilometers. This means that we emitted around 60 tons of CO₂ by traveling to project meetings, project management events and conferences (assuming an emission factor of 130 g per kilometer). Though IFEU staff uses trains whenever possible, for some of our projects in distant countries this is unfortunately not possible. The IFEU staff have searched for an alternative way to deal with the CO₂ emitted by air travel because of concerns about the usefulness of compensation.

More information...

First Project Newsletter SUPRABIO

23.02.2011 On the road to a bio-based economy, it is widely held that biorefineries are a sustainable use of biomass producing a wide range of material and energy products from renewable raw materials. Currently, the European Commission is funding three major research projects on this topic, one of which - named SUPRABIO - is coordinated by the University of Oxford. Since February 2010, project partners from eight European countries are involved in research, development and demonstration of biorefinery concepts. These are focused on innovative biochemical and thermochemical conversion processes, process integration, as well as issues of sustainability. The work on the latter subject is lead by IFEU.

Here, you can find the 1st project newsletter ...

LCA of beverage packaging in Austria

18.02.2011 IFEU led a LCA of mineral water and soft drink packaging in the Austrian market on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW), the waste material recycling Austria AG (ARA) and the trade association of the food and beverage industry. The study was carried out in 2010.

LCA of beverage packaging in Austria
executive Summary (pdf 409 KB); in German

LCA of beverage packaging in Austria
final report (pdf 2.8 MB); in German

EMIGMA - Empowerment of migrants on climate change

07.01.2011 The BMBF-funded three-year project EMIGMA has the objective of the environmental behavior and the environmental attitudes of Turkish and Russian-speaking immigrants and their commitment to explore to strengthen the climate. The project will be implemented/conducted by Fachhochschule Dortmund, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, (management: Prof. Dr. Marcel Hunecke and Prof. Dr. Ahment Toprak) together with IFEU. In addition to an inventory of climate-related knowledge, various approaches to activation of the civil engagement of immigrants for the climate and identify exemplary actions and projects with local relevance in the three selected fields of mobility, housing and nutrition and evaluated to be generated. Ultimately, the project recommendations lead to more climate protection in daily behavior to anchor of migrants. The CO2-Calculator which was developed by IFEU will be applied in this project.

More information ... (Emigma-Website)

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