E-car batteries needed / Heating sector could save more CO2
dpa
“Workers’ representatives and politicians advocate German production of e-car batteries”
Germany’s sole car battery producer, car manufacturer Daimler, will discontinue production this year, news agency dpa reports. The move has been strongly criticised by workers’ representatives. The German car industry is endangering its innovation leadership in electric mobility without a domestic battery production, the head of the VW workers’ council Bernd Osterloh and state secretary Matthias Machnig, from the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, said. The development of key battery technologies is instead happening in Asia and the US, the article says.
Read the article in German here.
Zeit Online
“In search of a clean motor”
German car manufacturers have in the past 20 years focused on modern diesel engines and distanced themselves from the trend towards electric-hybrid cars, as seen in other leading markets such as Japan and the US, according to Christof Vieweg in an article for Zeit Online. More and larger diesel cars in Germany have not led to a significant decrease in CO2 emissions from personal vehicles either, Vieweg writes, citing a study by the University of Trier. Meanwhile, German car manufacturers’ expensive hybrid models cannot compete with Asian versions, while the companies are also making little effort when it comes to natural gas engines either.
Read the article in German here.
Federal Network Agency
“Federal Network Agency and French regulation authority advocate coordinated energy market surveillance”
The presidents of the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) and the French Commission de Régulation de l'Energie (CRE) have met in Berlin to discuss regulatory questions of the energy market, the Bundesnetzagentur reports. Both agencies want to prevent a fragmentation of the European energy market. “Stepping up the German-French cooperation is essential, both because of the existing close links, and also to achieve a better integration of renewable energies into our power markets,” Bundesenetzagentur president Jochen Homann said.
Read the press release in German here.
German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW)
Natural gas is number one heating source in old and new buildings
Almost half (49.6%) of all homes built in the first six months of 2015 were fitted with a gas heating system, the BDEW says. And 20.4 percent were fitted with heat pumps, while 20 percent were connected to a district heating network, the BDEW found, according to preliminary figures. Almost half - 49.3 percent - of existing homes, or 40.8 million flats, in Germany were heated with natural gas in 2014. Gas heating systems can be combined with solar thermal and bio-gas, helping to integrate renewable energies into the heating market, said Anke Tuschek from the BDEW management. Some 20 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved every year if Germany changed old boilers for new versions with renewable features. About 15 million heating systems in German homes are in need of modernisation by 2020, the BDEW says.
Read the press release in German here.
