Aluminium producer and recycler Speira is upgrading its plants in Germany Two new tiltable rotary furnaces are to be built at its Grevenbroich and Töging sites The four new furnaces are specially designed for recycling "low grades" and the dross produced during the melting process Speira is investing around €11m in furnaces and associated infrastructure It is Speira's second major investment in just a few weeks the company unveiled plans to expand the capacity of its Rheinwerk plant in Neuss and to make it into a leading European recycling hub at a cost of around €40m The expansion at Neuss is to include the construction of a new fourth recycling furnace as well as the remodelling of the casting plant The permit application for this project has been publicly available since mid-July The new furnaces now planned in Grevenbroich and Töging offer a number of advantages according to Speira: the metal yield will be increased and energy efficiency improved thanks to state-of-the-art burner technology and automatic charging Work will be safer and easier for employees as individual components can be accessed easily for maintenance and the molten metal can be tapped with the furnace doors closed The charging machines also allow wheel loader and forklift traffic in front of the furnaces to be minimized the furnaces are meeting the most recent environmental standards and are "H2 ready" meaning that they could be operated with hydrogen in the future "We take a holistic view of our contribution to a functioning circular economy but also at the more difficult lower grades and by-products we want to get the maximum out of it and put it back into the cycle," explained Ralf Köring a unit which serves Speira’s other business areas as well as external customers such as businesses in the automotive and packaging industries The four new furnaces will be installed in stages: The two furnaces in Grevenbroich are scheduled to go into operation in May 2025 and May 2026 the first furnace is scheduled to start production in October 2025 and the second in October 2026 The new "S4" recycling furnace at the Rheinwerk site which will produce liquid metal from aluminium scrap is also scheduled to go into operation at the beginning of 2026. According to the permit application documents currently accessible through the Düsseldorf regional government (Bezirksregierung Düsseldorf) the fourth unit is to be a two-chamber smelting furnace with a maximum annual input capacity of 83,000 tonnes The input materials are to include post-consumer or market scrap post-industrial (pre-consumer) scrap in the form of solid metal The maximum output capacity of the S4 is 66,000 tonnes of liquid aluminium per year which is then to be further processed in the casting furnaces on site or transported directly in crucibles to the neighbouring rolling mill in Alunorf GmbH which is operated by a joint venture between Speira and Novelis Even though Speira will be adding a furnace the company is not seeking to increase the production capacity of the site The Rheinwerk's permitted melting capacity is to remain limited to 370,500 tonnes of solid metal per year S3 (which comprise the existing UBC plant for recycling used beverage cans) and the new S4 the four casting plants can also be used to some extent to melting down solid metal The annual production volume of sawn ingots at the site would also be unchanged at 435,000 tonnes Among the reasons Speira gave for the unchanged output were the longer melting times that were needed for the production of higher-quality products Because the inputs to be melted in the new S4 furnace will include contamination with organic materials the scrap would be subject to increased handling and sampling requirements Speira is planning to build a new sampling hall The permit application includes information on this facility as well as a description of two new compactors to compress the aluminium scrap to a suitable density prior to charging into the furnace In order to improve in-house dross handling and reduce the amount of dross sent for treatment by external service providers Speira is also planning to expand the dross cooler and create new storage areas Customer Service+49 7224 9397-701servicenoSpam@GO-AWAYeuwid.de Editorial Team+49 7224 9397-0recyclingnoSpam@GO-AWAYeuwid.com Get the latest news about developments and trends in the industry sent to you once a week free of charge by newsletter Sign up for our newsletter We use cookies and external services on our website others enhance your user experience or help us improve this website You can change your privacy settings any time by clicking privacy policy Necessary cookies are required for the correct functioning of the website Content from video and social media platforms is blocked by default. 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You can find more information on the individual external services in our privacy policy Where to find tulip fields in Germany this springBookmarkBookmarkBy Olivia LoganMar 16, 2025Tulip fields in Germany can’t quite hold a candle to the likes of the world-famous Keukenhof or other similar spots in the Netherlands but they are still worth a visit if you’re looking to fill a spring day with colour Tulip bloom comes in three different stages in Germany depending on the flower species: the early tulip species which flower in March; the mid-spring species which flower in early May; and the late tulips The specific names of these tulips are so excellent they are worth mentioning individually followed by the camply-named Purple Prince and Baby Queen species orange and yellow Triumph and Darwin Hybrid tulips follow in May It is easy to locate flower picking fields across Germany by googling “Blumen selbst schneiden” ("cut flowers yourself") or “Blumen selbst pflücken” ("pick flowers yourself") but it can be harder to track down fields rowed with tulips specifically Here are some fields we can recommend for a stroll you will have to leave the plants in peace; in others you are welcome to pay to pick a bunch and take them home Image credit: imageBROKER.com / Shutterstock.com Around 40 minutes from Cologne and Düsseldorf lies one of Germany’s most popular tulip fields Visitors to Tulpenhof Francken can walk through the fields visitors have been limited to looking at the tulips from the field perimeter after guests repeatedly caused significant damage to the flowers Tulpenhof Francken says that photo shoots and other similar activities are expressly forbidden on the fields The nearest train station to Tulpenhof Francken is Kapellen-Wevelinghoven from which a 20-minute walk will take you to the field on Talstraße This field isn't commercial in the sense that there are no shops and staff on site but you can pick your own flowers and pay for them Flower farms like Berges tulip field operate on an honour system Visitors should be careful while walking among the plants and pay fairly for whatever they pick You will usually find an unstaffed payment point at the edge of the field where you can pay in cash Prices can vary between 50 cents and three euros per tulip Image credit: Jan von nebenan / Shutterstock.com this island sits in Germany’s largest lake Flower Island is home to a dahlia garden and tropical fern garden but its tulip garden along Frühlingsallee (Spring Alley) is the highlight and a previous winner of the World Tulip Award From the end of March to the beginning of April 450 tulip species turn the banks of Flühlingsallee into a kaleidoscope of colours A top tip: you don’t even have to venture beyond the boundaries of the largest German city to enjoy everything tulip season has to offer. Head to Britzer Garten in southeastern Berlin where over 100.000 tulips bloom every year True tulip enthusiasts can also take part in a tulip tour to learn about the flower’s history in the Middle East “tulip mania” of 1637 and the different species By mid-March, when the tulip bulbs spurt their green heads through the earth, you can check the Blütenbarometer (bloom barometer) on Britzer Garten’s website to see if the fields have bloomed ahead of your visit Tulip fields can be elusive. Have you spotted an excellent spot while driving through the countryside and think it's worth a mention in our list Thumb image credit: Kateryna Frost / Shutterstock.com You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience RWE has commissioned one of the largest German battery storage systems at the group’s Hamm and Neurath sites The battery energy storage system (BESS) can reach its nominal capacity within seconds and provide power at that level for around one hour (235 MWh) RWE will make the electricity from the battery storage systems available on various energy markets The system contributes towards stabilising the electricity grid through balancing energy markets The BESS comprises 690 battery cabinets with eight battery modules each with 140 MW of capacity in Hamm and 80 MW in Grevenbroich-Neurath RWE has built the associated grid infrastructure This includes high-voltage transformers as a connection point to the 110-kV grid commented: “With the storage plants in Neurath and Hamm we are commissioning one of the largest BESS in Germany Our batteries complement the expansion of renewables which requires a growing number of large-scale BESS and further BESS are already in planning.” added: “The commissioning of the large BESS at the Westfalen power plant site shows that Hamm continues to be a significant energy location in the region Our existing high-performance grid infrastructure and Amprion’s new electricity highway including the large ‘green power socket’ at the Uentrop site are proof of the area’s future prospects in the post-coal era RWE is taking an important first step in the right direction.” noted: “If we want structural change the BESS in Neurath is an important step towards structural change in the region The RWE plant not only contributes towards stabilising the electricity grid but also shows how innovative technologies are paving the way for an environmentally friendly and future-oriented energy supply Investments of this type are essential in order to develop Grevenbroich and the Rhenish mining area into a technology and business location.” The availability of suitable sites and proximity to grid connection points played a key role in the selection of the location There is still potential for further development RWE is planning to build further large-scale batteries on the site of its former Westfalen hard-coal power plant in Hamm-Uentrop Don’t miss out on our last issue of the year The Winter issue of Energy Global is out now; this issue kicks off with a guest comment from Veronica Maxted Director of Renewables at RS Group before moving on to a regional report on the current state of the renewables industry in North America This edition of the magazine also explores key topics such as inspection and maintenance With contributions from key industry leaders such as Viridien dive into the issue and see what you could learn Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/energy-storage/17022025/rwe-commissions-bess-systems-in-germany-to-stabilise-the-grid/ Lantana Capital Ltd has been appointed as the mandated sell-side advisor for the public auction of Heliosphera SA's bankrupt solar panel factory in Tripoli Embed article link: (copy the HTML code below): Already a member? Sign in here RWE has commissioned one of Germany’s largest battery storage systems at its Hamm and Neurath sites boasting a total capacity of 220 megawatts (MW) This system can reach full capacity within seconds and sustain that level for around an hour The electricity from these battery storage systems is utilized across various energy markets playing a crucial role in stabilizing the grid particularly through balancing energy markets The storage system consists of 690 battery cabinets while the Grevenbroich-Neurath site holds 80 MW (84 MWh) RWE has constructed the necessary grid infrastructure including high-voltage transformers that connect to the 110-kV grid highlighted the significance of this project emphasizing that these storage plants mark the commissioning of one of Germany’s largest battery systems He noted that large-scale energy storage is vital to complement the expansion of renewable energy sources with additional battery storage projects already in the pipeline underlined the city’s role as a key energy hub in the region He pointed out that Hamm is becoming a crucial site for a secure green energy supply supported by the existing high-performance grid and Amprion’s new electricity highway The commissioning of RWE’s battery storage system is seen as an essential step toward a sustainable energy future stating that the battery storage system in Neurath represents a major step in the region’s structural transformation He emphasized that the facility not only stabilizes the electricity grid but also showcases how innovative technology is driving an environmentally friendly and future-oriented energy supply Investments like these are essential to developing Grevenbroich and the Rhenish mining area into a leading technology and business hub The availability of suitable sites and proximity to grid connection points were key factors in selecting these locations RWE is already planning additional large-scale battery installations at the former Westfalen hard-coal power plant site in Hamm-Uentrop and operates battery storage systems across the U.S. The company currently manages storage systems with a combined capacity of approximately 1.2 gigawatts and is set to expand its global battery storage footprint significantly as part of its “Growing Green” strategy Wealthy nations have failed to reach an agreement on curbing public finance for fossil fuel projects Canada and the European Union supported plans to restrict support from export credit agencies to the oil and gas industry "Despite many months of negotiations and hard work the Participants to the OECD Arrangement were unable to reach an agreement to further restrict the provision of support for fossil-fuel related projects," the Paris-based organisation said in a statement The discussions had started in 2023 under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development a 38-member group of mostly developed nations Climate campaigners say credit export agencies are the biggest source of public finance for the fossil fuel industry undermining efforts to curb global warming "This issue may be revisited in the future," the OECD said any participant that wishes to do so is free to join those who have already voluntarily adopted more restrictive terms and conditions for such transactions." climate change policies are expected to shift drastically under Trump Climate campaigners fear Trump could again pull the United States out of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on combatting carbon emissions is the world's second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in volume president has tapped fracking magnate and climate change sceptic Chris Wright to be his energy secretary Aluminium Wire Market Analysis: Industry Market Size Copyright © ChemAnalyst - 2020 | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy Double success for RWE in onshore wind power infrastructure auction: The German Federal Network Agency has awarded it the Grevenbroich wind farm in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Bartelsdorf 2 project in Lower Saxony These positive decisions will help RWE to accelerate its expansion of renewables in Germany the company is investing about €60 million into three new onshore construction projects including Sandbostel-Bevern in addition to Grevenbroich and Bartelsdorf 2 three Nordex units are being constructed at the location in the Rhenish mining region The scheduled start date for the Grevenbroich wind farm with a total installed capacity of 17.1 MW and it is expected to go into operation at the end of this year.  In the rural district of Rotenburg (Wümme) between Hamburg and Bremen RWE will add five Nordex turbines to its existing wind farm Bartelsdorf This will give the wind farm an additional 28.5 MW of capacity The start of construction in this case is planned for the summer of 2022 A special aspect in this case is that two of the newly constructed units will pass to Bürgergesellschaft Heidland Wind GmbH & Co This is one way in which RWE is continuing its successful collaboration with local partners Both onshore projects are part of RWE’s “Growing Green” strategy the company will have invested €50 billion gross in its core business expanding its green generation capacity to 50 gigawatts it aims to invest up to €15 billion gross in offshore and onshore wind RWE has advertised 200 new positions for the development of onshore wind and utility-scale photovoltaic plants in Germany Bettina Mehnert originally didn’t want to become an architect She had an industrious personality and followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a carpenter But that eventually drew her to architecture and she became the third generation in her family to enter the field She moved to Hawai‘i in 1988 and has been with Honolulu-based architectural firm AHL ever since She became the firm’s first female CEO in 2013 AHL is one of 1,100 companies worldwide that have pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030 the firm reduced greenhouse gas emissions from its own project portfolio by 35% “It is important that we are talking with all of our clients about the importance of design choices,” she says What kind of building materials do we want to pick What is the carbon footprint of the material that we are using?” The firm also has a 1% program in which its staff donates 1% of its work per year to a project The first project was remodeling the aging Salvation Army Family Treatment Services facility in Mānoa Others have included the renovation of Ho‘ōla Nā Pua’s Pearl Haven rehabilitation campus for sexually exploited girls and refreshing Aloha United Way’s headquarters Mehnert says the 1% program is important because of the relatively high cost of architectural services “And what still gives me chicken skin after all these years is that it’s not just us it’s our consultants as well” who donate their time and efforts Click here to listen to more episodes of The Hawaii Business Podcast This episode is presented by Subaru Hawai’i Dedicated to making the world a better place their goal is to be more than a car company through its Love Promises.  The Subaru Hawai’i Love Promise is a vision to show aloha and respect to all people at every interaction To spread the Love Promise as far as possible they work with a diverse range of organizations that fall under the cause areas of the Earth Subaru Hawai’i believes in being a positive force in the communities where we live but with actions that set an example for others to follow.  To learn more, visit SubaruHawaii.com Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information The Neurath lignite fueled power station in Grevenbroich 2022 at 4:53 AM EDTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.RWE AG will bring forward its coal exit by eight years to 2030 after it extends operations at two German lignite-fired power units until the end of next winter to help ease Europe’s worst energy crisis for decades The company will not receive any government compensation for accelerating the coal exit unlike in previous negotiations it said in a joint press conference with the Economy Ministry operations at Neurath D and E will be extended until at least March 2024 to help ease Germany’s reliance on gas supplies This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Europe’s largest economy is bracing for the prospect that Russian natural gas gets cut off suddenly a shock that would trigger a form of martial law for energy and affect 80 million residents and businesses from bakers to chemical producers 2023 at 8:09 AM EDTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.Germany will bring several mothballed coal plants back to the market this winter to ensure that Europe’s largest economy can keep the lights on when demand peaks An order to allow the renewed activation of units belonging to RWE AG and LEAG was passed by the cabinet on Wednesday, according to an economy ministry release. The move should help save gas and prevent supply shortages in the upcoming heating season, it said. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world but Russia’s invasion has forced several countries to burn more coal and build new gas facilities RWE’s Neurath power plant in Grevenbroich which envisions deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to meet a goal of reaching net-zero by midcentury But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has forced several countries to backpedal on decarbonization to compensate for cuts in fuel supplies from Russia which just last year called for an end to new oil and gas projects “The current strains on energy markets are painful for us all.” A coal-fired power plant near Grevenbroich 2024 at 1:01 PM EDTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.A coal plant operator in Germany has warned that it’s unprofitable to put power stations on standby to help keep the lights on for the next few years Steag GmbH has been asked to keep five coal plants with 2.5 gigawatts of capacity online until end of March 2031 to safeguard the power system in Europe’s biggest economy The company lodged a complaint against the order citing the significant costs associated with such a move at a time when energy companies are supposed to be investing in cleaner fuel sources Clean Air Task Force calls for overhaul of action plans with many countries European countries must bridge the vast “planning gap” between their climate targets and action plans, according to a report. The national energy and climate plans (NECPs) that EU member states made in 2019 are outdated lack key details and do not line up with long-term strategies according to analysis from the environmental nonprofit organisation Clean Air Task Force Only half of the states have submitted a fresh proposal two months after an EU deadline for draft plans passed in June “Three decades is a very short period to plan and construct the power system that we need in 2050,” said Alejandra Muñoz Castañer from CATF Governments have a “one-time opportunity to really take their planning endeavours more seriously The report calls on member states to use their action plans to support a wider range of clean technologies send clearer signals to investors of where to put their money and plan cross-border infrastructure like electricity pylons and hydrogen pipelines It also calls for a greater focus on solving practical problems like training enough workers and making it easier to get permits for clean energy projects A spokesperson for the European Commission said it was working closely with the member states to ensure timely submission of their plans and will issue an assessment of them by the end of the year The EU has promised to cut greenhouse gas pollution by at least 55% from 1990 levels by the end of the decade and hit net zero emissions by 2050. But a report from the European court of auditors in June found “little indication that actions to achieve 2030 climate and energy targets will be sufficient” which outline how governments will meet their energy and climate goals are “crucial for mobilising the massive investment needed” for climate neutrality and energy security The last round of plans were written shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic and the EU’s green-stringed recovery packages sending gas prices soaring and sparking a continental push to boost energy security while the US has passed a landmark climate bill that has spurred a global race to support clean technologies The EU has also overhauled its own climate goals Since the last round of plans it has raised its 2030 targets for renewable energy from 32% to 42.5% for energy efficiency improvement from 32.5% to 36% and for carbon removal from land use from 225mtonnes to 310m tonnes Setting ambitious targets is an important step a clean energy analyst with CATF and co-author of the report member states and the EU as a whole struggle with is: How do we get from today to 2030?” Only a handful of countries met the EU deadline for the next round of NECPs at the end of June and as of mid-September just 15 of the 27 member states have submitted a draft the two biggest greenhouse gas polluters in Europe Spain and the Netherlands have submitted updated plans said the EU’s rapid push for increased renewables and reduced consumption of fossil gas mean that “timely submission of these plans is paramount” Member states have also seen a shift in priorities at home was ordered by its constitutional court in 2021 to update its climate law because of provisions that “irreversibly offload major emission reduction burdens on to periods after 2030” the German environment agency found that the country has closed 70-80% of the gap between its policies and targets but “additional measures are still needed” to clean up its transport Germany’s last NECP “was more of a box ticking exercise,” said Charly Heberer an adviser on EU climate policy at nonprofit Germanwatch “We would hope that the next NECP has been thought of a bit more holistically.” In central and eastern Europe, meanwhile, the last round of NECPs was “poorly implemented” and not tied closely enough to EU funds that could have helped drive change, a report from the NGO Bankwatch found in June The Clean Air Task Force report called on governments to “connect the dots” beyond 2030 to 2040 and 2050 The EU has not yet set a target for its greenhouse gas pollution in 2040 but plans to do so before elections in May 2024 Its scientific advisory board said in a report in June that the EU should aim for reductions of 90-95% by 2040 relative to the levels at which they were in 1990 Taking one of the latest coronavirus tests to gain federal approval is as easy as spitting developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health was granted emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday and offers a more comfortable alternative to a nasal swab Saliva can be collected in any sterile container As the United States grapples with building testing capacity to meet the growing demand brought on by people resuming school and work officials have placed their hopes on several solutions including saliva testing Since the test doesn’t require chemical reagents or swabs that have become scarce during the pandemic and offers a faster turnaround than the standard test some believe it could offer the country a way to determine the spread of the virus quickly “Providing this type of flexibility for processing saliva samples to test for COVID-19 infection is groundbreaking,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in a statement The league uses SalivaDirect to test asymptomatic players and staff in its bubble a quarantined zone for teams at Walt Disney World in Florida Comparing the results of saliva tests to the more common method the scientists found that the test was just as accurate While SalivaDirect isn’t the first saliva test to get the green light from the FDA its efficiency could improve the bevy of tests coming to market its approach goes beyond what the four previously approved saliva tests could allowing labs to skirt supply chain concerns for reagents by validating multiple vendors The research team is already working with other labs to get more tests authorized a Yale postdoctoral fellow who led the laboratory development and validation of the test One of the research groups is led by Martin Burke a chemist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has already launched a similar saliva test he developed at the university’s campus to screen more than 50,000 students The test’s quick turnaround time has allowed the school to reach its goal of 20,000 tests per day or its aim to test students twice per week Millions of students are returning to college campuses this fall and some have already been sent home because of outbreaks As schools have wrestled implementing coronavirus precautions and screening Burke believes the speed and affordability of the saliva test could be scalable for others — if they have the availability of a lab Frequent testing would can guarantee an infected person is notified and quarantined promptly before passing the virus to peers Illinois students can go to one of 40 testing stations across their campus self-administer the test and get their results on a university-created app within three to five hours The school retrofitted its veterinarian laboratory to handle screening the student population Burke hopes the capacity will be expanded to offer testing to other people off-campus While Burke’s team is still collecting data on the test’s sensitivity he said that an initial clinical study showed promising results Prompt and persistent screening is essential to reducing the “window of transmission,” allowing those who are infected to isolate early before exposing others “If you look at the goal of surveillance testing fast and frequent testing is the key,” Burke said The test is also cheaper since it doesn’t need some finite reagents The Yale researchers estimated the test could cost up to $10 to be run “Our mission is to remove capitalism from surveillance,” the Yale team’s lead researcher “We want to make available cheaper tests and we believe that companies shouldn’t overly profit from this That is why we offer our protocol for free and we are working with labs to implement cost and time saving steps.” Bottlenecking in America’s supply chain and limited lab capacity has plagued the country’s efforts to ramp up testing the nasopharyngeal swabs that are designed for patients’ upper respiratory passage are not only prone to scarcities but also makes patients uncomfortable the saliva tests allow patients to spit into a container The test also doesn’t require a trained staff member to administer the test freeing up workers and reducing the risk of exposure “One of the most important benefits for using saliva instead of a swab is it’s pretty difficult to take a swab accurately,” Vogels said then you might miss detection of the virus.” The Yale team has touted its test bypasses extracting virus’s genetic material another part of the standard screening with supply scarcities “Being able to perform a test without these kits enhances the capacity for increased testing while reducing the strain on available resources,” according to the FDA meaning that it would not hasten the process in areas without CLIA-certified facilities But since the test does not require any proprietary equipment labs with varied operations could run these tests “provided they comply with the conditions of authorization in the EUA,” according to the FDA Stay secure and make sure you have the best reading experience possible by upgrading your browser The Garzweiler coal mine and power plant near the city of Grevenbroich in western Germany Plans to expand an open-pit brown coal mine in the eastern German village of Pödelwitz have prompted protests Germany enjoys a reputation as a pioneer of clean energy Its leader Angela Merkel was even dubbed the "climate chancellor" when she decided to ditch nuclear power in 2011 Centuries-old villages across the country are being bulldozed to make way to mine brown coal — one of the filthiest and cheapest fossil fuels Germany is at risk of missing its 2020 carbon emissions targets The latest rural idyll threatened with destruction is the medieval village of Pödelwitz Its quaint timber-framed houses stand empty and only 27 out of 200 villagers remain because mining company MIBRAG wants to dig up the coal that lies beneath lives in a neighboring village and has known Pödelwitz all her life "The character and charm of the place has gone MIBRAG says 90 percent of Pödelwitz's residents agreed to sell their property and move The company acknowledges relocating communities is difficult but says it "can ultimately be a new opportunity for those involved." But in recent days, hundreds of protesters have pitched tents on the green in front of Pödelwitz's church. They've already seen villages cleared in the states of Rhineland and Brandenburg Greenpeace activists lit a campaign banner on fire to protest coal extraction as a church was set for demolition in the German village of Immerath is one of the climate activists camped out in Pödelwitz He says that since Merkel made the decision to switch off nuclear power 3,000 people have been displaced in Germany because of mining for lignite — the technical name for brown coal — and another 2,500 are currently in danger of losing their homes "Germany needs to wake up and people need to see that it's not the green icon that it is often portrayed as," Laumanns urges It's considered the dirtiest of coals because it is inefficient Greenpeace warns that for the same amount of energy extracted from high-grade anthracite (black burning lignite releases between two and four times as much CO2 into the atmosphere Germany primarily uses brown coal for electricity and the chemical industry Last year, 37 percent Germany's electricity was powered by coal, and 23 percent of it by brown coal, according to the Economy Ministry. That is undermining progress the country has made in expanding cleaner, renewable energy production. According to the Brussels-based climate policy think tank Sandbag, seven of Germany's brown coal mines are among the top 10 biggest polluting power plants in Europe Germany still aims to reduce its carbon emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 Laumanns says that with brown coal usage so high Germany will struggle to hit both this target and its 2030 target of a 55 percent reduction "This country is investing a lot of money in the energy transition but it's not actually reducing its CO2 emissions," Laumanns says Local Farmer Jens Hausner is determined to stay in Pödelwitz He says he's optimistic the protest movement will stop the mine from demolishing the village The irony is not lost on local farmer Jens Hausner you can see the coal plant that's threatening his livelihood but you can also see wind turbines on the horizon He says the contrasting view is an apt analogy for the country's confused climate policy "In Berlin they're talking about how to phase out coal they're scaling it up as if it wasn't an issue," Hausner complains A newly formed coal commission — a group of experts industry representatives and environmentalists — has until the end of the year to come up with a coal phaseout plan the head of Germany's largest energy sector lobby He says that for an industrial giant like Germany it could take another 20 years to shut down coal use Protesters hang signs against extracting brown coal in the village of Pödelwitz "The coal plants belong to companies who have ownership rights," he says "So if you're going to insist they shut down appropriate compensation has to be awarded." steel and aluminum industries can access and afford the electricity they need." senior policy adviser with the Heinrich Böll Foundation — a think tank affiliated with Germany's Green Party — agrees that weaning the country off brown coal is no easy task She says that while the lignite sector employs a mere 20,000 people it provides jobs in regions with little other industrial work and so the miners are going to fight for their jobs "The problem with coal is that it's so localized and that they're very well organized in terms of unions," Bertram says our trade unions are very strong and always have to be a part of the discussions." Climate protesters discuss how to save the village of Pödelwitz from being demolished to make way for a brown coal mine on the edge of the village at the gates to the coal plant "Nobody ever talks about the advantages of brown coal what is does for the region economically or the energy security it provides." He says there aren't any other decent manual jobs in this region If Germany continues to drag its feet over how to give up its dirty coal habit 52-year-old Güter will probably work at the pit until retirement Become an NPR sponsor Row upon row of colourful flowers could be seen across the vast field in Grevenbroich Get the latest news and updates straight to your inbox Dubai Dream Home: Tour 60 million Jumeirah Park mansion See: France's International Kite Festival takes flight Photos: Sri Lanka women-run hotel breaks down barriers See: South Africa's 'cradle of humankind' caves reopens German police are searching for man they say took a rare vintage Ferrari worth $2.2 million on a test drive and never returned Police in Düsseldorf found the Ferrari 288 GTO, but are still looking for the man who sped off with the car while posing as a would-be buyer, USA Today reported Police said in a statement seen by CNN that the man responded to an online advertisement for the car on Monday and drove off with the vehicle when the seller got out of the car to swap seats during a test drive The car was found on Tuesday hidden in a garage in the town of Grevenbroich Read more: Yoga studio owners accused Dennis Rodman of stealing a 400-pound amethyst crystal Officials have not revealed what condition the car was in when it was recovered Police did release a photo of the suspected thief, showing what appears to be a middle aged man with glasses, RP Online reported The Ferrari 288 GTO is a limited-edition variant and just 272 were produced between 1984 and 1987 a spokesman for specialist auctioneer RM Sotheby's told CNN that the cars are valued between $2.5 million and $3.5 million But he said it's not an ideal car to steal "It is not a very sensible car to steal because it is a very difficult car to sell," he told CNN "It is like a famous painting — most people would find it quite easy to identify Grevenbroich/Berlin: The aluminium company Hydro will start offering HYDEC a novel aluminium strip used to produce transformer windings HYDEC is a 1070 alloy variation for transformer applications with a particularly high conductivity Hydro slits its material to width by measuring the topography of the trimmed edges with a sophisticated electronic device “Strengthening our service to the transformer industry is part of our strategy to enhance our position in products that are more demanding and tailor-made for our customers´ needs.” said Wolfgang Rempe head of the General Engineering business unit in Hydro Hydro produces aluminium strip for transformer windings at its Karmøy rolling mill in Norway Source: HydroImage: Hydro (Copyright) SEWA installs six substations and over 29 km of cables in Al Qutainah 1 marking key progress in its plan to expand and stabilize Sharjah’s electricity network A 20 / 26 MVA mobile transformer will temporarily stabilise supply in Tseaddo and nearby communities as ECG works to upgrade La Primary substation GE Vernova will supply over 70 high-voltage transformers and reactors to bolster India’s renewable energy corridors and grid modernisation under POWERGRID contracts © 2013-2025 | All Rights Reserved MERIT MEDIA INT A flagship EU law intended to push European companies towards net zero faces being seriously weakened by member states a confidential document passed to The Associated Press reveals with firms seemingly no longer forced to implement Paris Agreement goals The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive was designed to make companies eliminate environmental and human-rights violations throughout all areas of their business The legislation was meant to ensure firms’ operations were aligned with a global rise in temperatures of no more than 1.5º Celsius (2.7º Fahrenheit) But a November 9 briefing obtained by The AP details a watered-down proposal that would drop the entire financial sector from the initial law Banks and insurers are among Europe’s biggest contributors to global warming by financing or insuring new oil and gas projects or agribusinesses that chop down tropical rainforests Nonprofits also warn the new proposal would mean firms merely need to have plans to hit low carbon targets not actually deliver them – a recipe for greenwashing But there’s currently a stand-off on the final text between the European Parliament formed of ministers from all 27 member countries Many of the latter want less onerous provisions worried about the impact of stringent regulation on their economies Spain currently holds the council’s presidency and is trying to get all the member states to agree on their desired version of the law Its attempt at breaking the impasse was set out in the confidential briefing The proposed rules on the financial sector had led to “difficult problems to overcome in working out a reasonable landing zone” with the European Parliament “the presidency proposes … a possible exclusion of the financial sector which would delay the extension to the financial sector to a later stage” who warn if it’s kicked into the long grass The next European elections are due in June 2024 As part of its plan to become climate-neutral by 2050 the European Union has adopted a wide range of measures from reducing energy consumption to sharply cutting transportation emissions and reforming the EU’s trading system for greenhouse gases some leaders and lawmakers are concerned about antagonising voters with binding legislation and restrictive requirements the council’s proposal was to create laws for the financial sector that individual nation states could opt in or out of head of EU policy at the World Benchmarking Alliance a Dutch nonprofit that examines the sustainability of global companies called the current approach a “massive row back on the progress made” “When you exclude finance you exclude a major driver of change,” he said “It goes against the majority views of the EU parliament Commission and most member states,” he added questioning the “undue influence” of large countries “willing to pander to the financial sector’s lobbying needs” lead negotiator on the law’s financial clauses said in a phone interview that finance was the fuel of the world economy and fundamentally connected to the environment He laid the blame for the change firmly at the door of France but said he was yet to hear a credible or convincing argument justifying their stance A deal on finance was previously supported by all member states “France is the driving factor,” he said A document authored by French officials last November shows it proposed removing legal obligations for the financial sector to address environmental harms linked to its financing activities show France “spoke out against the proposal and against all options” then proposed on finance A source in the French negotiation team said on the phone “France supports the exclusion of the financial sector from the scope of the directive “But France supports a certain number of dispositions that reinforce obligations of the financial sector in the framework of this directive.” “We know companies are responsible for the vast majority of climate-wrecking emissions,” said Alban Grosdidier of Friends of the Earth Europe He warned the proposed changes would make the new law “weak and unenforceable” forcing companies to adhere to the Paris Agreement The European Parliament wants member states to ensure their companies implement a plan to limit global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels But the council’s preferred version would merely order companies to “adopt a plan” aligned with the Paris Agreement They also want to amend the enforcement of the bill to make clear that nations need only police whether plans have been “adopted” is that these plans wouldn’t necessarily need to be delivered The leaked briefing shows the EU presidency now prefers the weaker regulation As a “proposed solution” to the stand-off it said companies should show an “obligation of means” to align with the Paris Agreement an “obligation of results” would have been much stronger a lawyer and policy officer at the European Coalition for Corporate Justice “Use of the phrase ‘obligation of means’ here has the effect of meaning companies only need to have a plan for aligning with Paris as opposed to actually implementing that plan,” said Romain Hubert a research fellow at Paris-based analysts the Institute for Climate Economics Friends of the Earth’s Grosdidier said the new proposed could even be counterproductive as the adoption of a plan with no duty to implement was a “licence to greenwash” A spokesman for the Spanish presidency of the EU Council declined to comment Ambassadors of member countries are due to discuss the new proposals on Wednesday they will form the basis for the final negotiation with the European Parliament Once negotiators from all sides will have brokered a compromise it will need to get formal approval from both the parliament and council to become a law across the bloc with about 450 million citizens View the discussion thread. moving away from fossil fuels sounds relatively straightforward How quickly do we have to kick the fossil fuel habit Should developing nations forego the artery-clogging feast of dirty energy that other nations used to fuel their development and gas will each nation have to leave in the ground—potential profits notwithstanding In a new study, University College London researchers Christophe McGlade and Paul Ekins examine that last question. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report concluded that between 2011 and 2050 we can only emit around 1,000 gigatons of CO2 if we want to limit warming to 2°C above preindustrial temperatures Current fossil fuel reserves—the known amount of fossil fuels that can be produced at a reasonable profit today—equal almost 3,000 gigatons of CO2 Adding in the fossil fuels that are not economically viable today but probably could be eventually brings that number up in the neighborhood of 11,000 gigatons That means a whole lot of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground The researchers ran simulations with economic models to find the mix of fossil fuels that maximizes the economic benefit to each country while still staying below 1,000 gigatons of CO2 They took into account the costs of producing various types of coal and oil as well as the cost of bringing it to market in each region they produced estimates of how much of each region's reserves should be considered “unburnable” in this economically optimized scenario They present the amount of fossil fuels that can’t be produced as percentages of current reserves but a small amount of currently non-economic resources end up being extracted instead of reserves So it’s slightly more complicated than saying “This chunk of reserves can be produced and the rest can’t,” but the general point is the same the authors find that one-third of oil reserves and over 80 percent of coal must be left in the ground in 2050 to stay below 2°C warming the US could produce over 90 percent of its oil while Canada would have to leave 75 percent in the ground (largely because Canada’s oil sands are more costly) While the Middle East would only be leaving 38 percent of its oil—just above the global average—that works out to be 263 billion barrels accounting for about half of the total global “unburnable” oil The US and Europe could produce most of their natural gas as well and the Middle East could only produce about 40 percent of theirs the Middle East would pitch in about half the world’s restraint And the shale gas revolution would remain primarily a US phenomenon with the US capturing about half the global total of unconventional gas The proportions of “unburnable” coal would be a little more even The US and former Soviet Union would have to leave over 90 percent untouched Rapidly developing China and India could use a little more— roughly 30 percent of their coal These numbers vary a bit depending on whether carbon capture and sequestration technology is available but it’s not a huge impact given that the model assumes such efforts don’t begin until 2025 and expand relatively slowly coal faces an even bigger disadvantage; with it a little more has to swap out for cleaner-burning natural gas “Fossil-fuel companies must therefore ask themselves whether they should continue to invest in exploration for or risk losing billions of dollars of stranded assets.” “these results demonstrate that a stark transformation in our understanding of fossil fuel availability is necessary Although there have previously been fears over the scarcity of fossil fuels in a climate-constrained world this is no longer a relevant concern: large portions of the reserve base and an even greater proportion of the [total] resource base should not be produced if the temperature rise is to remain below 2°C.” Jakob and Hilaire also point out the practical implication of this research: “Importantly [this study] clearly highlight[s] the distributional challenge of climate policy: imposing a limit on the use of fossil fuels transfers economic benefits (known as rents) from resource owners to those who obtain the right to use the remaining burnable reserves successful climate policy will crucially hinge on the question of whether this ‘climate rent’ can be shared in an equitable way that also ensures resource owners are compensated for their losses.” Nature, 2015. DOI: 10.1038/nature14016, 10.1038/517150a  (About DOIs) It’s one of those massively overcommitted drifts where the car has gone beyond perpendicular and you start scanning the side windows to see what you’re going to hit destroying a Porsche Taycan on an international press event would likely be a career-ender and at that precise moment I have an empathy fail and feel a pang of relief it isn’t me flapping at the wheel and doing the subsequent explaining the Pirellis scrabble desperately at the wet surface of the Grevenbroich test facility and then it’s all gathered up The company developed an all-wheel drive EV – the System Lohner-Porsche – in 1898 but it’s fair to say that the prospect of Zuffenhausen belatedly getting back into the game has kept us intrigued Porsche bought a 10 percent stake in Rimac Automobili the Croatian company behind the Concept_One and C_Two electric hypercars and also developed the battery system for the Aston Martin Valkyrie Although the collaboration came too late for the Taycan’s development it’s expected that Rimac battery tech will soon be found beneath future Porsche floors you might well paint the Taycan as Porsche merely doing something that Elon Musk largely covered with the Model S in 2012 or that minus an internal-combustion engine the Taycan is somehow commoditised; a generic skateboard draped in Zuffenhausen’s dress-up Australians can initially expect the Taycan in three distinct flavours the Taycan will slot into Porsche’s range somewhere just below the Panamera Porsche has already sold its entire first-year build run of 30,000 Taycans and given that it sold 35,573 911s last year the company is bullish that Taycan demand could outstrip that of the iconic sports car it’s built alongside at Zuffenhausen Expect the flagship Turbo S to be priced around $350K before on-roads here in Australia with the Turbo just under $300,000 and the 4S pitching in at just under $200,000 Typical option spend will be around 15 percent on top of those numbers A rear-drive entry-level car will debut in 2021 which could bring access to the Taycan range down to Cayman money Also due in 2021 is the Cross Turismo shooting brake body the Taycan Turbo and the flagship Turbo S all feature dual electric motors that drive all four wheels and a two-speed transmission at the back The range-topping Turbo S was on hand for us to sample at the workshop in Grevenbroich This features a crushing 560kW and 1050Nm system output a range of 420km and a 93kWh battery (84kWh net) composed of 384 LG cells with a pulse-controlled inverter on both axles to convert the battery pack’s DC charge to the AC required by the permanently excited synchronous motors Porsche’s 2.8-second 0-100km/h claim and 9.8-second sprint to 200km/h felt The 505kW/850Nm Turbo won’t be much slower at 3.2sec/10.6sec and delivers up to 453km of range The key difference between the two models is that the Turbo S gets a second pulse inverter on its front axle and so can handle more torque The pulse inverter is also employed as a traction control device being able to cut and reapply power 10 times faster than Bosch’s traditional all-wheel-drive chipsets Unlike most EVs (apart from the Rimac C_Two with which it shares some technology) the Taycan has a two-speed transmission on the rear axle but the gearbox gives it added flexibility the transmission logic prioritises first gear for aggressive acceleration capability allied to an overboost function the taller second gear is prioritised for efficiency but under full acceleration it’s possible to hear Switch the Taycan into Sport or Sport Plus modes and the usual electric whine hardens into a more strident “We wanted to modulate the natural sound of the e-motor,” explains Bernd Propfe of the (optional) Porsche Electric Sport Sound and no cheap ‘ringtones’ will be available Customers will not be able to change this.” “It’ll lap the Nürburgring in significantly less than eight minutes,” said Dr Ingo Albers the director of chassis engineering on the Taycan project “It did an eight-minute lap without any braking,” he adds later All of the Taycan’s energy recuperation (up to an industry-best 265kW versus the 50-100kW of most competitors) comes via the brake pedal and Albers claims that 90 percent of all braking events when you request the pedal are handled by energy recuperation It’s but one mind-boggling aspect of the Taycan’s dynamics Helped by its active roll stabilisation system with the only detectable roll coming via tyre deformation Reducing roll oversteer tendencies is clearly desirable in a vehicle that weighs 2295kg “We have PSM [stability control] with a Sport setting that offers a safety net which is hardly surprising given the dynamic options at the car’s disposal Drive can be shuffled back and forth and from side to side I’ll freely admit that my first glimpse of a Taycan provoked mild disappointment Gone are the otherworldly proportioning and suicide doors of the original Mission E concept replaced by a more practical – and taller – superstructure Sit a Taycan next to a Panamera and the bonnet is lower but the windscreen header rail much the same height gradually tapering back into a characxteristic Porsche fly line “It reflects the genes of the Mission E,” claims Dr Bernd Propfe “We’ve done our utmost to bring this into production.” The obligatory pair of golf bags will fit into the 400-litre rear luggage bay leaving the 82-litre frunk for your charging cables or a soft bag The cabin is a marked departure from existing Porsche designs Porsche instead using a huge 16.9-inch freestanding curved glass display A set of eared tabs sits at each end of this screen with the lights on the left and functions for ESC much as we’ve seen in the 992 version of the 911 while the Sport Chrono option features a neat little manettino mode dial on the steering wheel arm and the analogue clock front dead centre of the dash roll top The most striking aspect of the interior is the 10.9-inch optional screen that sits ahead of the passenger This co-driver screen can be used to marshal sat-nav and infotainment switching to a blank screen when the passenger seat is empty In between these two displays is another 10.9-inch centre display while the centre console houses an 8.4-inch haptic display Wireless Apple CarPlay and over-the-air updates are supported and there’s a now almost obligatory voice-activated assistant Much has been made of the Taycan’s 800V electrical architecture Porsche playing heavily on the fact that a five-minute charge will secure you 100km is that there isn’t a network of 800V chargers for the Taycan to exploit this The company readily admits that most will be charged overnight at the owner’s home using the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect on a 240v AC plug at 11kW In conjunction with the Porsche Home Energy Manager it supports smart charging applications and provides overload protection for your domestic connection Porsche is planning to install the 800V ‘Turbochargers’ at its main dealerships and these will charge a warm battery from 5 to 80 percent in 22.5 minutes JET Charge has also announced that it will roll out 800V chargers across Australia in due course the Taycan will slot onto the progressive end of Porsche’s three-pillar strategy of internal combustion “How do we bring Porsche into the next generation How can we bring the fascination of sports cars into the future?” asks Dr Robert Meier the combustion engine will be superseded by the electric powertrain,” he says Wheels' Road Test Editor brings 25 years of experience to the hot seat Enright has driven virtually everything and loves telling the stories behind both new and old metal Enright loves cars that retain a sense of fun and deliver functional ingenuity Strangely hates convertibles and is befuddled by fine dining options BERLIN (AP) — German police have recovered a valuable 1980s Ferrari stolen during a test drive and are searching for the man believed to have sped off with the car while posing as a would-be buyer is believed to be worth more than 2 million euros ($2.2 million) A man answering an advertisement turned up for a sales appointment in Duesseldorf on Monday then sped off with the vehicle when the seller got out of the car to swap places during a test drive The Ferrari was recovered Tuesday in the nearby Grevenbroich area, where it was hidden in a garage. Police are still seeking the thief and released a picture Wednesday of a middle-aged man and have appealed for witnesses to come forward Copyright © 2025 | The Zimbabwe Mail Online - Your News! Your Views! Your Life! Giant machines dig for brown coal at the open-cast Garzweiler mine in front of a smoking power plant near the city of Grevenbroich in western Germany You must be logged in to post a comment Anna Kasprzak is a Danish dressage rider who has a net worth of $1 billion She has represented Denmark at the Summer Olympics in 2012 and 2016 She has also represented the country at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in 2014 and at the European Dressage Championships in 2013 and 2015 Anna Kasprzak has won bronze medals at the 2008 Azeitao European Young Riders Champions in team dressage the 2009 Ermelo European Young Riders Championships in team dressage the 2010 Kronberg European Young Riders Championships in freestyle dressage and the 2010 Kronberg European Young Riders Championships in team dressage She has also won bronze medals at the European Junior Champions in 2005 in Billund for individual dressage and team dressage Kasprzak won silver medals at the 2017 Gothenburg European Championships in team dressage and at the 2005 Billund European Junior Championships in team dressage © 2025 Celebrity Net Worth / All Rights Reserved