The restaurant trade is increasingly facing delivery bottlenecks as a result of climate change, which may even cause interruptions of the production of food products. Due to reduced yields and at the same time increased resource requirements, cost pressures are rising. In order to face these challenges in a timely manner, the DEHOGA East Friesland & Weser-Ems District Association is developing climate adaptation strategies for the restaurant trade. In the present project, the effects of climate change are analyzed, and specific solution paths for the restaurant trade are developed and communicated within the DEHOGA District Association.
The establishment of a consciousness for climate change processes and the necessary changes for climate-adapted agriculture and a climate-adapted food industry will require communications and interaction at the level of economic clusters, in order to initiate exchange and cooperation alliances by means of targeting network formation. The Oldenburg Münsterland Agriculture and Food Forum (AEF) is an association of 75 businesses in the agriculture and food sector which operates as an interface between the scientific community and everyday practice. In close cooperation with the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, key issues for regional climate adaptation measures have been developed on the basis of scientific ascertainments and practice-oriented needs.
A farmer and turkey raiser in Varrel (Oldenburg, Germany) has set up an absorption cooling plant on his farm which provides the necessary air-conditioning for his stall on hot summer days with the help of the waste heat from a biogas plant. The biogas plant itself is fueled partially by turkey manure, and the waste heat from the cogeneration plant linked to the biogas facility is used to operate an absorption cooling plant. The absorption cooling experts from the companies SolarNext AG and Meyer Kühlanlagen, together with the University of Bremen are working on implementation. The project has been subsidized to the tune of €185,000 by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research. The farmer’s self-payment share amounted to €45,000.
One of the important parts of the final conference of ‘nordwest2050’ has been the scientific exchange sessions in the House of Science and the Industryclub Bremen. Contributions were based upon a call for papers from October 2013. The scientific committee received almost 100 abstracts where 36 were chosen for oral presentations and 15 for poster presentations (see overview tables below).
Four main topics were discussed in parallel workshops:
• Analysing Impacts and Assessing Vulnerabilities
• Designing and Testing Solutions for Regional Climate Adaptation and Resilience
• Implementing Climate Adaptation and Paths to a Resilient Future
• Resilience for Business: Climate Adaptation Challenge and Strategies of Sectors and Companies
The company Colocation IX GmbH is building a new data center in Bremen, and has decided upon the use of a new innovative cooling technology: Instead of traditional air conditioning to remove the waste heat from the servers, integral wells and geothermal probes are to provide energy-effi cient cooling in summer and heating energy for use in winter. The company is working together with the University of Bremen and the company Geo-En GmbH, which has expertise in integral wells. These alternatives to electrically driven compressor cooling will protect the environment through energy savings, help relieve the power grids, and at the same time ensure a decentralized and fail-safe cooling supply. The project has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to the tune of €280,000. The co-payment share for ColocationIX GmbH amounts to €315,000.
The farm Moorgut Kartzfehn in Bösel/Kartzfehn is the largest independent turkey-raising operation in Europe, and at the same time has Germany’s largest research site for turkeys. Since turkeys, like all birds, cannot sweat, the predicted long and hot summer days are a risk, especially for the final stage of turkey-farming. In order to avoid heat stress for the animals, various ventilation and feeding concepts have been developed in the context of nordwest2050.
The survey of 4.000 companies in the metropolitan area of Bremen-Oldenburg in north-western Germany conducted by the University of Oldenburg as part of the ‚nordwest2050’ project in 2010 and 2012 showed that the economic importance of climate change is growing. The 2012 survey revealed that 38% of the companies polled already saw climate change as an important success factor for their company. In 2010, 31% of the companies surveyed said that they ascribed a “high” to “very high importance” to climate change for corporate success.
In order to initiate the design, communication and implementation of the transformation to a lowconflict and climate-adapted land-use system, the Centers of Competence e.V. organized three events in the context of nordwest2050 between 2010 and 2013. In cooperation with the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, a dialogue was initiated in which heterogeneity of the issues and the various interests of the actors on the issue of land-use was discussed and a solution-oriented manner. At the second and largest event, in February 2013, the »Aurich Declaration,« a regional statement on the most important land-use problems, and concrete approaches to solutions, was adopted. It is represented and supported by a wide range of authors from the region.
Content:
Regional Activities:
Looking Back on Five Years of RADOST;
RADOST Final Conference Takes Stock, Looks Ahead;
Looking Back: Comments on RADOST;
Bay of Kiel Climate Alliance Seeks to Make the Region a Climate Conscious Vacation Destination;
What’s Next after RADOST?
New Web Tool: “Northern German Climate Monitor”;
International Activities:
RADOST at the European Maritime Day;
Contributions wanted for ECCA Conference 2015;
Publications:
Communicating Adaptation to Regional Climate Change Impacts;
New RADOST reports;
Third Special Edition of “Coastal & Marine“