IG metall believes that the european union’s new emissions targets will lead to significant job losses and unforeseeable social consequences in germany.

In his opinion, a quota of almost 50 percent of new registrations of electric vehicles in germany would be necessary in order to comply with the european CO2 limit that will apply from 2030, the union’s first president, jorg hofmann, told the german press agency. Because of the lower production depth compared to internal combustion engines, nearly one in five jobs in the german lead industry is at risk.

"We reckon with about 200.000 jobs that are no longer available in the industry as a result of electromobility. This will hit certain regions extremely hard," the union boss said. These are, for example, the saarland, emden, or rural regions where suppliers are often the only industrial employers. These were hit even harder than the brand manufacturers themselves. In contrast, there were just 30.000 to 40.000 new jobs for electromobility components, if they were manufactured in germany.

The companies are now changing course and will probably have to take even more radical action than previously announced, for example at VW, said hofmann. The carmaker could lose up to 7,000 jobs in total when it ramps up production of the stromer at its sites in emden and hanover. At the same time, the necessary electricity infrastructure is unclear, as is the question of whether customers will actually be willing to buy electric vehicles on the terms that will then apply, hofmann said. Currently, the price of batteries, for example, is rising dramatically.

Decisions on job cuts have now been made, hofmann warned. If electromobility doesn’t work out, jobs will certainly not return. "No one should believe that germany will once again invest in classic incinerator technology. The jobs are permanently lost. A game of vabanque is being played with a completely open outcome."

Hofmann advocates review of climate targets no later than 2024 interim target. "Unfortunately, politicians have now given a lot of thought to target values and little to the social consequences."In his opinion, it is no longer possible to cushion the job losses solely through demographic changes in the workforce.

He sees the companies as responsible for qualifying their employees for new activities, hofmann explained. In addition, a new type of transformation short-time allowance is necessary, which can be paid to retrainers for up to 36 months. This benefit should be financed by the companies and the federal employment agency. In this case, the employees were affected with a deduction from their previous salary as their own contribution. The aim is to cushion the impact by means of additional benefits under collective bargaining agreements.

In the short term, the head of IG metall does not foresee any major economic problems for the german metal and electrical industry. The basic economic data are all positive, but there are considerable external risks, such as brexit, the trade conflict between the USA and china, and the uncertainties surrounding the stability of the european union.

In the metal and electrical industry, which employs around 3.9 million people, there will be no collective bargaining next year due to the long-running contract. At present, however, IG metall is fighting over wages and working conditions for employees in the textile and steel industries. Hofmann announced his intention to create more time freedom for employees in the coming years. "We are considering: how can we continue on this path to create such electoral options. In principle, collective bargaining agreements will open up more options for working hours to individuals in the future."

RELATED POSTS

Merz follows up on criticism of merkel’s migration policy
In the battle for the future CDU presidency, friedrich merz has added to his criticism of the federal government’s migration course. The former head of…

Adenauer’s grandson in iphofen
Adenauer’s grandson – an attribute that conservative politicians like to attach to themselves. Stephan werhahn, keynote speaker at the free voters’ new…

Dax board members earn 52 times as much as their employees
Executive floors are often far removed financially from the simple reality of work. 52 times as much as their employees were paid by the executive boards…

The first love and its shattering abysses
Place and time: do they still matter in relationships?? He who truly loves will reject this question as foolish. Like paul, who at the age of 19 falls in…

The post Lg metall warns of the consequences of a rapid conversion to electric vehicles appeared first on Warehorne.

With every step, fubgangers release microplastics into the environment. Around 100 grams of abrasion from the soles of shoes are said to be produced per capita and year in germany, as researchers from the fraunhofer institute for environmental, safety and energy technology in oberhausen have calculated.

This puts footwear in seventh place on the list of gross microplastic sources found in the study by environmental scientists.

So far, the public debate about plastic microparticles, which by definition measure no more than five millimeters, has focused primarily on personal care products and cosmetics. But there are many more sources: the authors of the study "plastics in the environment" have determined the emissions from 51 sources of primary microplastics. The clients were chemical companies, cosmetics manufacturers, water associations, waste disposal companies and universities.

A total of 330.000 tons of microplastics are produced in germany every year – a good four kilograms per capita. With 19 grams, shower bathers and co. Only 17th on the negative list. Abrasion from car tires tops the list of microplastic polluters. According to the study, microplastics account for around one-third of microplastic emissions.

And there is something else remarkable about the figures from oberhausen. Macroplastics – i.E., plastic totes and other carelessly discarded plastic products – only account for a good quarter of the total 446% in germany.000 tons of plastic emissions per year. Microplastics account for 74 percent. "What is obvious to everyone is thus counterbalanced by a quantity that is about three times coarser, some of which is only visible under the microscope," the study states.

Researchers distinguish between two categories of microplastics: firstly, particles that are added to a product during the manufacturing process, such as the grating particles in cosmetics. In the second type, the microparticles are only formed during use, for example synthetic fibers released during washing. "The distinction is important for the responsibility for avoiding microplastics," says study author jurgen bertling.

How researchers arrive at their figures? Data from experiments or measurements are few and far between. Using the example of shoe sole abrasion, co-author leandra hamann explains the procedure: "we took the total number of shoes sold per year in germany as our starting point."The average shoe size, sole area and around five pairs of shoes discarded per capita per year were also included in the calculations.

The scientists’ figures are, as they themselves admit, "rather in the upper range" compared to other studies, because more sources were taken into account. The scientists analyzed earlier studies and extrapolated production and consumption data down to microplastic emissions.

The fact that microplastics in cosmetics play a rather minor role in terms of quantity does not surprise the federal environment agency. The company’s own experts have come to the same conclusion, says spokesman felix poetschke. "But it is also the easiest to avoid."The amount of tire wear is also within the range calculated so far.

Obtaining data on the targeted use of microparticles is extremely difficult for researchers. In a study on the sources of microplastics published by the federal environment agency in 2015, for example, it is stated that there has been little willingness on the part of industry to provide concrete information on the quantities and types of materials used specifically. For this study, too, the figures were therefore estimated on the basis of "plausible calculation methods".

Knowledge about the origin, spread and consequences of plastic in the environment is still very sketchy. That’s why the federal research ministry has launched a rough research program: 18 projects with around 100 partners from science, industry, associations and municipalities are to draw up an overall picture of how plastics are produced, used, traded and disposed of.

Tire wear is also the subject of a project coordinated by the technical university of berlin. It is intended to determine the input of microplastics from tire wear in the runoff water of streams, as daniel venghaus from the department of urban water management at the technical university of berlin says.

A suggestion on how to reduce the amount of tire wear has already been made by fraunhofer researcher bertling. Drivers should look for durability when buying tires. "That’s why the eu tire label had to be supplemented," he demands. So far, the only data available are fuel consumption, braking distance on wet roads and rolling noise. The label says nothing about the durability and wear of a tire.

And bertling warns against general plastic bashing. If you want to increase the very low recycling rates, you have to improve the bad image of plastics: "only if plastics have a real value for producers and consumers, recycling will increase."

RELATED POSTS

This is why many couples are involuntarily childless
Baby boom and statistics or not: of course there are also people who don't have children. Because they consciously decide against it. Or? The…

Many dead fish in the river steinach: criminal police investigates
The dilemma has actually been going on all summer. The water is brown, stinks and has alternating brown or white foam. , reports heiko muller, resident…

How thorsten glauber tried to convince the farmers in iphofen
They came very early. Even before the organizers of the land schafft verbindung association to receive their farmers in an orderly fashion, the first 300…

Dax board members earn 52 times as much as their employees
Executive floors are often far removed financially from the simple reality of work. 52 times as much as their employees were paid by the executive boards…

The post Not just cosmetics: microplastics have many sources appeared first on Warehorne.

The industry is developing much better than the rest of the economy in germany. This will also have an impact on the labor market situation. The largest segment in the industry, with a share of 34 percent, is telecom services such as voice and data services in mobile communications.

In IT hardware, which accounts for 14 percent of the market, tablets are the absolute "shooting stars," said kempf. Telecommunications hardware accounted for 10 percent of the total. Sales of smartphones increased by 43 percent, according to the figures. 23 million smartphones are expected to be sold in germany this year.

Sales increase by 45.7 percent to 7.9 billion euros. Overall, the association expects strong growth in telecommunications of 3.4 percent to 66.4 billion euros.

However, the sluggish expansion of the new mobile communications standard LTE will slow growth again in 2013, said kempf. For the coming year, bitkom expects growth of only 1.6 percent. The federal network agency in particular is currently overstretched in terms of staffing to process the applications for expansion that have been submitted. "This will lead to a backlog of orders.". Following the high level of investment, the telecom companies have had to postpone their expansion plans for the time being.

In the consumer electronics market, there will also be a small decline in 2013 after an increase of 2.3 percent this year. Above all, the business with the major market driver flat-screen televisions is always influenced by major sporting events, which will not occur in 2013. According to the forecasts, revenue growth in this area was expected to decline slightly from 12.9 percent to 12.7 percent.

According to forecasts, the information technology sector will grow by 2.3 percent to 72.8 billion euros. The software market is showing the strongest growth with an increase of 4.4 percent. The tablet market is booming. Sales will rise by 41 percent to 1.6 billion euros, according to bitkom. Even business with traditional personal computers, which has been under pressure for a long time, is expected to decline much less this year: while bitkom was still forecasting a drop of 4.4 percent in march, business is now expected to decline by only 0.7 percent.

Many IT companies around the world are currently suffering from the weak PC market and the economic crisis. Only on tuesday, the world’s largest chip manufacturer intel, which is considered an important barometer of the industry, announced disappointing quarterly results. One reason for this may be that the chips from intel have so far hardly been used in the much sought-after tablets and smartphones.

The entire ITC sector with information technology and communications will employ around 3.6 percent more people in germany this year than a year earlier, according to forecasts. "The ITC companies will create 10,000 jobs this year," said kempf. The association expects to employ 886,000 people in 2012.

The post Bitkom significantly raises forecast for german it market appeared first on Warehorne.

The state of bavaria provides its universities with additional funds as part of the bavarian high-tech agenda and enables them to fill positions ahead of schedule. According to a press release, the university of coburg also benefits from this.

"This decision by the state of bavaria comes at exactly the right time for us", coburg’s university president prof. Christiane fritze. And she adds: "this will enable us to achieve our strategic goals faster than planned."

In concrete terms, the university of coburg is benefiting from the fact that planned professorships can now be filled quickly. On the one hand, this concerns the new master’s degree program in autonomous driving at the lucas cranach campus in cronach, germany. On the other hand, the university can strengthen its applied research through further research professorships.

Plan for 2021 to 2030

The university of coburg is currently drafting its university development plan for the years 2021 to 2030. Together with the deans of the faculties, it is determined which areas are to be further strengthened in the coming years and where new competencies are to be built up. The university also has room for maneuver in its development because it now permanently retains positions that were created in recent years for the expansion of additional study places – in contrast to what was originally planned.

"With the high-tech agenda, the state of bavaria is showing that it is strengthening bavaria as a location for science and technology, and that all bavarian regions will benefit from it", rejoices president fritze

RELATED POSTS

Bowing to a rough woman
A rude woman has died. Eugenie stelzner, born in 1924, died on 23 june 2009. January at the clinic. She was an outstanding person who influenced many…

Merz follows up on criticism of merkel’s migration policy
In the battle for the future CDU presidency, friedrich merz has added to his criticism of the federal government’s migration course. The former head of…

Fed chief believes moderate rate hikes still appropriate
Federal reserve chief jerome powell has held out the prospect of a continuation of moderate interest rate increases in the U.S. At the traditional…

Consumer users: more state aid for electricity costs
There is evidence that the levy was allowed to be 5 cents per kilowatt hour, said the energy expert of the verbraucherzentrale bundesverband, holger…

The post University benefits from high-tech agenda appeared first on Warehorne.