Newsletter/ nawaros^® 03/02

Content

The monastery of Roggenburg-Responsibility for Man and Nature
Always ready for composting
Absorbing, not dusty
Biogas plant Ettling- Electricity and heat with microbes
Confusing turnover tax rates
New harvesting technology for energy wood
Join in the discussion
Wood - the classic fuel
Latest news from the Competence Centre
C.A.R.M.E.N. expert talks:
Renewable raw materials for medicine
Strange warning notices
The market for farm products in figures 2001
Goats spinning silk

The monastery of Roggenburg-Responsibility for Man and Nature

Since January it has been in test operation; in February it was officially opened: the biomass heating station of the Premonstratensian monastery of Roggenburg. Wood chips from left-over wood and weak wood are used as fuels. By its new heating system the monastery replaces 220,000 litres of heating oil and saves the atmosphere 625 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The heat from wood corresponds to the basic idea of the people living behind the baroque walls of the monastery. They orient their actions by the aims of the agenda 21. A cosy warmth welcomed the guests invited.
They had come to the official opening of the new heating plant of the monastery close to Neu-Ulm on the 22nd February. Among them was also Bavaria's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Josef Miller. He emphasised the responsibility for the environment and the coming generations which is faced by the monastery by doing without fossil sources of energy.

The protection of the environment is taken into account when heating with biomass because no additional carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere but only the amount the trees absorbed in their biomass while growing. In the integrated district heating system the energy cycle remains concentrated on the region.
In order to spread the ideals of the Premonstratensian order beyond the walls of the monastery the "Trägerverbund Zentrum für Familie, Umwelt und Kultur e.V." (i.e. the 'Supporting Institution Centre for Family, Environment, and Culture, registered association') was founded in 1998. It works in numerous places of the region. In the midst of a fascinating cultivated landscape, surrounded by nature protection projects, the monastery was discovered as an ideal place of conference. An educational institution for family and environment was built, unique in Germany. Here, relevant educational organisations are interlinked for permanent co-operations, and the aims of the agenda 21 are realised.

Target groups are mainly families with little children and groups with a generation-uniting approach. The planning, financing and construction of the biomass heating station was undertaken by the company Julius Gaiser GmbH & Co. from Ulm together with their partner, the Südwärme AG. In the cellar of the monastery, which is a restaurant, a biomass heating plant with an output of 500 kW was installed. The heat consumption amounts to approximately 2,400 MW hours per year. 700 tons of biomass are required for it. The biomass is from the region and makes it possible that a large part of the net product can remain in the region. Information: Attending the project, C.A.R.M.E.N. compiled a brochure. It can be ordered for free at C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V.

For further information, please see in the internet: http://www.roggenburg.de.

In co-operation with C.A.R.M.E.N., the company Rohrmeier-Kompost from Aiterhofen made a composting test with degradable one-way tableware last year. Due to technical reasons the delivered tableware had not gone through the complete procedure of biowaste composting. However, after a few days the composting process was already very far advanced. After several weeks of rotting no parts of the tableware could be found anymore when sifting out.

The conclusion of the company Rohrmeier: "We are always ready to compost this tableware in our plant." The compostable one-way tableware turned up at the final celebrations of the 72-hours action of the district group of the catholic rural youth of Straubing-Bogen. The celebrations were intended as a thanks to the about 1,000 participants. The cost for the compostable tableware was paid by C.A.R.M.E.N., by the way.

Information: Rohrmeier Kompost, tel.: +49-9421-52-742, fax: -639 or from C.A.R.M.E.N.

Absorbing, not dusty

Maize spindles are threshed ears of maize. Usually they remain on the fields as crop residues. By shredding and screening these ears of maize, granulate or grit is won. According to the grain size it is suited as an auxiliary agent for grinding, polishing, and drying or for absorbing liquids such as for example oil.

Apart from its distinct oil-binding capacity, which is marketed under the label EU-GRITS®-FEIN, it stands out for its dust-free application and enjoys an increasing demand, von Haxthausen says. Thus, the absorption of liquids is also possible on the basis of renewable raw materials. If harmful substances are absorbed, the disposal according to the waste code is required.

Further information: Wilderich Freiherr von Haxthausen, tel.: +49-5295-338031, fax: +49-5295-8145; e-Mail: lichtenau@oelbinder.de.

Biogas plant Ettling- Electricity and heat with microbes

"It has been running and running and running ...," for almost two years. What is meant is the biogas plant of four farmers of Ettling. Close to Ettling, the farmers Altmann, Bauer, Eberhard, and Göschl operate an agricultural collective biogas plant which was subsidised by the Bavarian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

As "food" for the microbes of the plant only pig slurry, solid manure from poultry, old potatoes or old onions are suitable at present. Both for the slurry and for the solid manure only very short routes are necessary. This treats the purse as gently as the environment. "We would be happy to use further vegetable remnants if they are suited for the plant," Göschl says. More than 700 one-family homes could be supplied with electricity from the biogas plant of Ettling. Last but not least the farmers also created half a new job for the maintenance of the plant. According to C.A.R.M.E.N. employee Robert Wagner the reason why this collective plant turned out to be a success is among others that the four farmers get along very well and complement each other in work.

Information: Altmann, Bauer, Eberhard, Göschl GdbR, Sederweg 2, 94522 Ettling-Wallersdorf, Germany, tel.: +49-9937-607 or +49-9955-9300-311.

Confusing turnover tax rates

For the delivery of biomass varying turnover tax rates were mentioned towards C.A.R.M.E.N. There were 16, seven, or even only five per cent "for selection"! According to the tax office of Straubing, the turnover tax rate of seven per cent for the delivery of biomass is basically correct. The turnover tax law says: Section 12 "(1) For each taxable turnover the tax is 16 per cent of the basis for the assessment (section 10, section 11, section 25, paragraph 3 and section 25a, paragraphs 3 and 4). (2) The tax is reduced to seven per cent for the following turnovers: 1. The deliveries, the import and the intra-Community purchase of the objects listed in the appendix..."

As "objects" are listed in the appendix under no. 48: "Wood, that is: a) firewood in the form of round timber, chopped wood, branches, bundles of brushwood or similar forms, b) sawdust, wood refuse and waste wood, also pressed to pellets, briquettes, logs ore similar forms."

A reduced turnover tax rate of five per cent is only permitted for deliveries of biomass (sawmill products are excluded) by an agricultural or forestry enterprise. Concerning this, section 24 says: "(1) For the turnovers made within an agricultural and forestry enterprise the tax is - subject to the clauses 2-4 - fixed as follows: 1. For the deliveries of forestry products, excluded sawmill products, to five per cent ..." So it seems strange that a turnover tax rate of 16 per cent turns up time and again. In such cases the tax office should be contacted in order to clear this up.

Source for the turnover tax law: http://www.steuernetz.de/gesetze/ustg/20001219/index.html.

New harvesting technology for energy wood

In January, the Landesanstalt für Wald und Forstwirtschaft (LWF) (i.e. the 'Bavarian State Office for Forestry and Forest Management') harvested a five-year old energy forest close to Dornwang in Lower Bavaria by means of a novel "felling-bundling machine". The system comes from Scandinavia and was developed for the supply of energy wood. Several stems can be pinched off and bundled "standing" without having to put down single stems in an intermediate step.

Numerous people interested from agriculture and forestry visited the 1.8 hectare large area to get some information on the harvesting. The poplar forest was founded in 1997 with 8,300 cuttings per hectare. Five different kinds of poplars were tested by the LWF. The most vigorous kind reached a height of ten metres and an increase of more than 50 tons of dry mass per hectare - in the first turnover! By that, a modern wood heating station can replace approximately 20,000 litres of heating oil. 54 tons of fossil carbon dioxide emissions are avoided.

During the last ten years the LWF laid out 37 hectares of testing grounds with fast-growing trees in different regions of Bavaria. Since the stocks of the trees put forth again after the harvest, an energy forest can produce wood up to 25 years long according to the principle "plant once, harvest more than once".

For further information concerning energy forests and their harvesting turn to Frank Burger, LWF, tel.: +49-8161/71-5126, e-Mail: poststelle@fo-lwf.bayern.de.

Join in the discussion

... at C.A.R.M.E.N.'s new discussion forum!

Wood - the classic fuel

Together with the Agenda-21 office C.A.R.M.E.N. is organising a series of seminars with the motto "Wood - the classic fuel" in Schwandorf. The lectures on the subjects "Wood pellets: Energy carriers of a special kind" and "Heating systems for chopped wood and wood chips" are taking place from the 19th to the 21st March and are addressed to experts.

Information and programme: http://www.carmen-ev.de or directly from C.A.R.M.E.N.

Latest news from the Competence Centre

Straubing, 18th February, 2002
The co-ordination council met for the first time in the Competence Centre for Renewable Resources in Straubing. The Bavarian Minister of Science Hans Zehetmair opened the meeting. The eleven members of the body, representatives from research, economy, politics, and associations, had come. They chose the president of the university of technology of Munich, Prof. Wolfgang Herrmann, to be their chairman.

Reinhold Erlbeck, chairman of C.A.R.M.E.N., was elected his deputy. It is the aim of the co-ordination council to make Straubing an internationally acting research centre of high repute. For that, the Competence Centre is now registered at the German Scientific Council in order to be able to obtain subsidies by the Federal government for the planned building project.

C.A.R.M.E.N. expert talks:

Rapeseed oil emulsions for road maintenance
C.A.R.M.E.N. organises two expert talks on the subject "Rapeseed oil emulsions for road maintenance". They are taking place on the 20th March in the Bauhof Langfurth, rural district of Ansbach, and on the 21st March in the rural district office of Dingolfing, rural district of Dingolfing/Landau. Not only the employees of road construction authorities, departments for road maintenance and highway maintenance depots are invited but also mayors and employees of municipalities and communities.

The institute for building materials and construction of the university of technology of Munich shows the results of a neutral assessment of Bavarian pilot projects. Different projects and their properties are also presented. There is the opportunity of visiting a nearby test track. A binding registration is required. For background information: A high traffic volume and extreme effects of the weather are load factors road surfaces are exposed to. By a surface treatment in good time the wear and tear of the surfaces can be reduced and their life be prolonged.

This increases the traffic safety and saves tax money. Novel bituminous emulsions on the basis of rapeseed oil have improved qualities and are perfectly suited for the surface treatment of roads since they cause an increased strength of the surfacing. They easily form a film and can also be processed at low temperatures. So it is possible to replace a considerable part of the petroleum-based bitumen by a local and renewable raw material, rapeseed oil.

Registration: At C.A.R.M.E.N. Information also in the internet under http://www.carmen-ev.de.

Renewable raw materials for medicine

In medical analytics disposable products from plastics are often used. Such products are made from fossil resources. According to the company Biomer from Krailing, in Germany alone approximately 40,000 tons of these disposable products are consumed, ending up in waste incineration plants and polluting the atmosphere with CO2. Synthetics which can be shaped by temperature, so-called thermoplasts, can also be manufactured from renewable raw materials. They are biodegradable but remain intact over the years if neither salts, ammonia, and phosphoric acid nor a high humidity or bacteria and fungi can affect them.

In competition with classic thermoplasts, the application of which has been optimised for 50 years and more, they can only stand their ground if they offer financial advantages or improved qualities. Biomer develops such biodegradable engineering materials for the production of medical products. The products made from these original substances can definitely keep up with the chemical and physical properties of their "classic" competitors. An example is PHB (= polyhydroxybutyrate). It is extracted from bacteria containing the polymer as an energy reserve material and can be degraded by fungi and bacteria.

Information: Biomer, Dr. Urs J. Hänggi, tel.: +49-89-8572-665, fax: -792, e-Mail: mail@biomer.com, Internet: http://www.biomer.com.

Strange warning notices

On the 28th January, 2002, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (http://www.sueddeutsche.de) was on the trail of American warning notices. The annual award of bizarre warning notices of the consumer organisation M-Law from Detroit (http://www.mlaw.org) made the headlines.

With the product label "Attention - highly inflammable!" the winner was a company that offers easily combustible wood logs for the fireplace. The prize could already be awarded to the matching lighters during the past years - they had the warning notice "Do no use close to fire, flames, or sparks".

Further prize-winning labels can be found under: http://www.mlaw.org. Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung (http://www.sueddeutsche.de), 28th January, 2002.