Press | Umweltbundesamt

The EU Parliament is due to decide tomorrow (Wednesday) on more stringent standards in the energy efficiency of refrigerators, freezers, and washing machines. Should the Parliament approve the proposals made by the EU Member States in late March, any washing machine, fridge or freezer with an energy efficiency class lower than ‘A’ would be eliminated from the market starting July 2010. A second st... read more

Daily life exerts constant stress on children’s ears. Tests conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) about noise exposure and the impact of noise on 1,048 children aged 8-14 demonstrate that one in every eight children suffer considerable impairment of hearing ability. One in every six children lives along roads with heavy traffic, and the child’s bedroom in nearly three thirds of the hou... read more

TV sets are to use less energy in future. Citizens can see just how much by means of new energy use labelling, which is the result of a resolution passed in late March by the EU Member States in a regulatory committee for eco-design in Brussels.  Approval by the EU Parliament and Council is still pending. Once the regulations enter into force, a total of 43 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy over the... read more

The newly launched Blue Angel for low-noise and fuel-saving tyres has set new and ambitious standards relating to environment, health and economy that are orientated towards the caps that will apply across the EU as of 2012. The criteria for award of the Blue Angel make high demands of tyres: they must be low-noise and use little fuel, and this will ease the load on car drivers’ purses as well. Mo... read more

Demographic change and its consequences could cause a deterioration of real estate values in many regions of Germany and thus lead to considerable losses of fortune. The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is calling upon the governments at federal, Länder and municipal levels to counteract the impact of demographic changes now with a view to mitigation. ”The most crucial measure to be taken is to sl... read more

The quality of the drinking water supplied by Germany’s more than 2,600 large central water utilities rates ‘good’ to ‘very good’. This is the conclusion reached in the second report by the Federal Ministry for Health (BMG) and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) on the quality of water intended for human consumption, which reviewed the years 2005-2007. According to the report, more than 99 perce... read more

Operators and facilities in Germany subject to emissions trading generated a total of 473 million tonnes of ozone-depleting carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2008, representing a reduction of 14 million tonnes of emissions on 2007 levels. Operators participating in emissions trading were in major part responsible for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. When taking into account the extended sc... read more

Compared to the previous year, total greenhouse gas emissions in Germany in 2008 were reduced by almost 12 million tonnes, which constitutes a decrease of around 1.2 percent. Total emissions amount to 945 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent and are therefore within the target corridor of the Kyoto Protocol, according to which Germany has to reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by an average 21... read more