General

The Berlin Botanic Garden warns against blind actionism in species conservation. Thomas Borsch, Director of the Botanical Garden, emphasizes the need for sound knowledge about biodiversity and species protection. He argues that well-intentioned but uninformed actions such as the indiscriminate sowing of seeds can even do harm. The conservation of a species is more complex than generally assumed. The...

An amendment to the law can significantly accelerate the spread of digital electricity meters - known as smart meters - in Germany. These advanced metering systems are to be used across the board in households and businesses by 2032. The law ensures legal certainty for the rapid installation of smart meters, responds to criticism from the Federal Council and...

In some cases, travelers do not have to pay for their trip if the travel agency has made gross errors in the planning and the trip can therefore not be continued. This was decided by the Munich Local Court (AZ: 114 C 8563/22). In this case, a family wanted to travel with their Chihuahuas in the passenger cabin from Munich via Zurich to Dubai. However, the family was denied boarding by the...

Students on the "Integral Building" Master's degree course at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences are designing an inclusive neighborhood at Wittekindshof in Bad Oeynhausen-Volmerdingsen. The neighborhood is intended to promote the coexistence of people with and without disabilities. The transformation of the site reflects the change in social work, with people with disabilities increasingly living in their own homes.

The situation on the real estate financing market appears to be stabilizing according to the latest data from construction finance broker Hüttig & Rompf AG. The decline in new business for residential construction and mortgage loans for private households has slowed. "Prospective buyers thus appear to be hesitantly adapting to the new interest rate conditions for mortgage loans," says...

How do employees who mainly work outdoors protect themselves from intense sunlight? And what precautionary measures do employers take? Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now investigated this. The study shows that there are differences in terms of gender, industry sector and working hours when it comes to individual...

Thanks to the new version of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), operators of home photovoltaic systems have benefited from more favorable conditions since the beginning of the year. This is the opinion of the energy advice service of the consumer advice center. Funding has been extended, remuneration rates increased and bureaucratic obstacles and taxes reduced. These changes particularly affect systems with a...

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) will shortly be hearing a case concerning the duty of disclosure of a real estate seller during a due diligence investigation (V ZR 77/22). The focus is on the question of what responsibility the real estate seller bears for providing relevant information, in particular in the context of pre-contractual assurances about future...

Trellis fruit offers yield and privacy in one and, according to the "schoener-wohnen.de" portal, also acts as an elegant alternative to traditional walls or hedges. Cultivating trees on scaffolding makes it possible to grow apples, pears, cherries and other types of fruit even in smaller gardens. Shaping fruit trees on wooden or steel scaffolding is a centuries-old technique that...

Over 1,500 energy-efficient refurbishment projects have been initiated to date through the KfW's urban energy refurbishment funding program. This was recently announced by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR). In a study, it examined how the funding program was implemented from 2018 to 2022 and found it to be successful. "The integrated approach 'from building to...