TY - JOUR A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Fürst, M.A. A1 - Caspar, J. A1 - Theodorou, P. A1 - Brown, M.J.F. A1 - Paxton, R.J. T1 - A sting in the spit: widespread cross-infection of multiple RNA viruses across wild and managed bees JF - Journal of animal ecology N2 - 1.Declining populations of bee pollinators are a cause of concern, with major repercussions for biodiversity loss and food security. RNA viruses associated with honeybees represent a potential threat to other insect pollinators, but the extent of this threat is poorly understood. 2.This study aims to attain a detailed understanding of the current and ongoing risk of emerging infectious disease (EID) transmission between managed and wild pollinator species across a wide range of RNA viruses. 3.Within a structured large-scale national survey across 26 independent sites, we quantify the prevalence and pathogen loads of multiple RNA viruses in co-occurring managed honeybee (Apis mellifera) and wild bumblebee (Bombus spp.) populations. We then construct models that compare virus prevalence between wild and managed pollinators. 4.Multiple RNA viruses associated with honeybees are widespread in sympatric wild bumblebee populations. Virus prevalence in honeybees is a significant predictor of virus prevalence in bumblebees, but we remain cautious in speculating over the principle direction of pathogen transmission. We demonstrate species-specific differences in prevalence, indicating significant variation in disease susceptibility or tolerance. Pathogen loads within individual bumblebees may be high and in the case of at least one RNA virus, prevalence is higher in wild bumblebees than in managed honeybee populations. 5.Our findings indicate widespread transmission of RNA viruses between managed and wild bee pollinators, pointing to an interconnected network of potential disease pressures within and among pollinator species. In the context of the biodiversity crisis, our study emphasizes the importance of targeting a wide range of pathogens and defining host associations when considering potential drivers of population decline. KW - Apis KW - Bombus KW - Decline KW - Pathogen KW - Spillover PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12345 SN - 1365-2656 SN - 0021-8790 VL - 84 SP - 615 EP - 624 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-32885 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schischke, K. A1 - Rückschloss, J. A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar A1 - Zöllinger, J. A1 - Nisse, N. F. A1 - Schneider-Ramelow, M. T1 - The European Union’s Energy Label for Smartphones: Does it guide consumers to make environmentally sustainable choices? T2 - Proceedings 2023 IEEE 13th International Conference on Consumer Electronics N2 - The European Commission adopted an EU Energy Label for smartphones and tablets in June 2023. For the first time, the EU Energy Label will depict, among energy efficiency, also a reparability score, battery endurance, battery lifetime, drop resistance and dust and water ingress protection. However, does the multitude of parameters bear the risk to confuse consumers instead of triggering environmentally sustainable purchase decisions? In a survey in Germany, consumers were asked to make a choice when the label does not clearly identify the environmentally better product. Instead, energy efficiency has to be valued against reparability, reliability against energy efficiency, and reparability against reliability. The sustainability lever of the different aspects is not the same, as e.g. lifetime extension has a much more positive environmental impact than energy efficiency in case of mobile devices. Therefore, the question remains, whether consumers intuitively make the right choice. Results of the survey indicate that consumers interpret the complex label in the desired manner and value those aspects higher, which indeed have a more positive effect on the environment. T2 - 2023 IEEE 13th International Conference on Consumer Electronics CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 03.09.2023 KW - Circular Economy KW - Kreislaufwirtschaft KW - policy making KW - EU Energy Labelling KW - Smartphone PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 6 AN - OPUS4-58177 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sarfraz, Adnan A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar A1 - Wright, J. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Advanced gas hydrate studies at ambient conditions using suspended droplets JF - Chemical communications N2 - We report the spontaneous formation of a clathrate hydrate in a suspended droplet at ambient conditions. A novel method for producing and stabilizing clathrates for analytical studies is described. KW - Clathrates KW - Thermography KW - Acoustic levitator KW - Dichloromethane PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cc13049h SN - 0022-4936 SN - 1359-7345 VL - 47 IS - 33 SP - 9369 EP - 9371 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-24480 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rückschloss, J. A1 - Schischke, K. A1 - Berwald, A. A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar T1 - Pandemic-related behavioural changes – does EU Ecodesign policy making need to react? T2 - eceee Summer Study Proceedings N2 - The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought far-reaching changes for our society. Suddenly, millions of people spent the majority of their time at home - either due to a lock down or by switching from office to working remotely. This paper offers a literature review regarding pandemic-related behavioural changes and a first mapping of likely consequences for EU Ecodesign regulations. These impacts are considered for product groups that are already regulated by EU Ecodesign or are under discussion for future regulation. Furthermore, potential for smart home applications are analysed exemplarily. We identified which behavioural changes have the potential to become established in the long-term. This might need to result in adaptions for regulations under the Ecodesign Directive and EU-Energy Labelling regulations to better reflect the recently appeared usage profiles. It might require different priority settings regarding the product groups to be regulated and communicated to users, due to online shopping proliferation, to be updated. Changed behaviour can be observed in product groups such as ICT, consumer electronics and household appliances. Examples include the increased use of laptops and tablets for digital teaching, use of gaming devices and office equipment in private households (IT, printing and network devices) and changed cooking behaviour. This resulted in increased sales of some product types. Online sales became even more important than in-store sales, which also means that consumers are increasingly informed online about energy efficiency. More do-it-yourself (DIY) home projects result in more frequent - not yet regulated - DIY power tool use and over the long run might stimulate the need for (semi-)professional tools. The changes in behaviour patterns also offer the opportunity to optimize consumption by means of smart homes and smart products. However, the control of networked household appliances requires additional energy for standby states and data exchange. As an illustrative example, we discuss the conflict between higher energy consumption for smart system components and the possible optimization of consumption in private households. T2 - ECEEE 2022 SUMMER STUDY CY - Hyères, France DA - 06.06.2022 KW - Ecodesign KW - Energy Labelling KW - Circular Economy KW - Pandemic KW - Behavioural change PY - 2022 UR - https://www.eceee.org/static/media/uploads/site-2/summerstudy2022/pdfs_docs/panel8-papers.zip SP - 1237 EP - 1244 AN - OPUS4-55509 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schuberth, J. A1 - Ebert, T. A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar A1 - Rödig, L. A1 - Jepsen, D. T1 - A Front-Runner Approach for EU product policy - Impulse for raising untapped energy saving potentials T2 - Scientific opinion paper N2 - In 2020, the European Commission has announced to propose a Sustainable Product Policy for the EU which shall ensure that the performance of front-runners in sustainability progressively becomes the norm. In addition, the European Commission has re-emphasised the necessity to significantly improve the effectiveness of the current Ecodesign framework for energy-related products. With this paper, we present an initial outline of a policy approach which we call the “EU frontrunner approach”. The approach aims at installing a regulatory framework which enables a semi-automated, progressive adaptation of ecodesign minimum requirements for products. It builds on performance levels of the best products available on the market by aggregating information in a database. The “front-runner approach” could first be applied to progressively adapt product-related minimum energy-efficiency requirements. This way it would serve as a starting point to introduce this conceptto the EU policy arena. While the approach can be applied for energy efficiency, it is neither limited to energy-related products nor to energy-related requirements. It can be applied to the wide range of nonenergy related products within the scope of the upcoming Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) as well as to non-energy-related requirements, such as minimum requirements for durability, reparability, recyclability and recycled content. KW - Ecodesign KW - Energy Labelling KW - Circular Economy KW - Efficiency KW - Policy making PY - 2022 UR - https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/a-front-runner-approach-for-eu-product-policy SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - German Environment Agency CY - Dessau-Roßlau AN - OPUS4-55503 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar A1 - Giegerich, J. A1 - Dworak, C. T1 - Neue Trendlinien für das Ökodesign - Materialeffizienz von energieverbrauchsrelevanten Produkten (M/543) N2 - Die Kreislaufwirtschaftsinitiative der Europäischen Kommission fordert eine grundlegende Erweiterung bestehender Rechtsrahmen. Anforderungen zu einer gesetzlich vorgeschriebenen Lebensdauer, Reparierbarkeit, Recyclingfähigkeit, etc. von Produkten sollen unter der Ökodesign-Richtlinie geregelt werden. Bei diesem Vorhaben steht der Normungsauftrag M/543 im Zentrum. Es wurde 2015 von der Europäischen Kommission vergeben und bislang sind acht horizontale bzw. generische EN-Normen geplant. Trotz der zu erwartenden hohen Reichweite dieses Vorhabens scheinen die Inhalte und der eigentliche Zweck der zu erarbeitenden Normen vielen Marktakteuren noch nicht vollständig bekannt zu sein, daher sollen im Rahmen des Webinars diese Inhalte kurz vorgestellt werden. T2 - DIN-Akademie CY - Webinar DA - 30.04.2019 KW - Kreislaufwirtschaft KW - Circular economy KW - Lebensdauer KW - Reparierbarkeit KW - Recyclinkgfähigkeit KW - Ökodesign KW - Rechtssetzung PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-47905 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rückschloss, J. A1 - Schischke, K. A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar A1 - Jonathan, Z. T1 - Too much information? Which labelled product property influences customers' purchasing decisions most T2 - Proceedings PLATE 2023 Conference N2 - The individual willingness to pay for sustainable products is significantly influenced by the climate crisis, but is also affected due to additional international crises as the still ongoing pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The better a product labelling is designed, the more likely consumers are to make a well-considered purchase decision at the point-of-sale, which in turn increases the product lifetime of the devices. The results of this study are based on two consumer surveys with a total of 590 participants. Consumers were asked to make a simulated purchase decision based on the upcoming EU Energy Label for smartphones. Each consumer was presented comparison labels showing different aspects concerning durability (meaning charging cycles, robustness and IP class), repairability, energy efficiency and product price. In addition, there was a question on energy consumption, which was displayed either in Wh/h or in battery endurance per charge in hours. The analysis of the survey shows a clear ranking of the preferred properties: 1. Durability as best option, Energy efficiency and Repairability as second and third choice. In all categories, a higher price was accepted in favor of a more environmentally friendly product design. When presenting the energy consumption in Wh/h, no reliable distinguishing between higher or lower values was observed. In contrast, higher values were clearly preferred when choosing between different battery runtimes. Recommendations will be developed for adjustments to the upcoming EU Energy Label for smartphones and other product labels in the future showing circular economy aspects, such as the durability, repairability, recycled content used during production, recyclability or the total footprint of the product. T2 - PLATE Product Lifetime and the Environment Conference 2023 CY - Espoo, Finland DA - 31.05.2023 KW - EU Energy Labelling KW - Circular Economy KW - Policy making KW - Electronics KW - Smartphone PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-57612 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schlegel, Moritz-Caspar A1 - Giegerich, J. T1 - Kicking the can down the Circular Economy Road – Basic needs in Standardization for Electronics- and ICT-products T2 - Proceedings PLATE 2023 Conference N2 - As consequence of the European Green Deal and the European Commission's Circular Economy Action Plan, the product landscape in the EU will undergo fundamental changes. The legal requirements for products are being expanded, not least through the Proposal for an Ecodesign Regulation for Sustainable Products published by the European Commission in 2022. Following the current developments, requirements for the circularity of products will be increased next to the already existing minimum requirements for products’ energy efficiency. Following this development, the lead question has to be: Is the market, in particular small- and medium-sized enterprises, well prepared for this planned green transformation of our economy? The answer is: No, not yet. What is needed are suitable standards for the implementation of these requirements to reduce additional burdens to an appropriate level and to support fair competition between all market actors concerned. The German Institute for Standardization, the German Commission for Electro-technical, Electronic & Information Technologies and the Association of German Engineers have conducted a review study with the aim of identifying fundamental needs for revising existing standards and for creating new standards - both of which are intended to support and accelerate the transformation of the current economy towards a Circular Economy. More than 700.000 normative documents were analyzed, and the results were discussed and consolidated with more than 1000 experts from manufacturers (organizations), consumer- and environmental organizations as well as from the public sector. As a result, more than 200 gaps in the standardization landscape were identified. In this study, we highlight and analyze the most important needs for standardization activities in the field of electrotechnical-, electronic- and ICT-products. In the discussion with the experts for electrotechnical-, electronic- and ICT products, it has been confirmed that a timely implementation of ambitious political decisions of a circular economy requires a normative basis to ensure its consistency. Furthermore, consensus between experts was that legislation in product regulation would be key and should not be extended to the area of waste legislation. As most important standardization activities accompanying product legislation, the following were identified: (i) creation of a set of indicators enabling a holistic assessment of product circularity, (ii) quality assurance of secondary raw materials and consumers awareness of the product circularity both enabled by appropriate analytics and (iii) clear regulation concerning product liability of repaired, refurbished or remanufactured products. One issue of relevance to all experts concerns the product safety, which must not, under any circumstances, decrease when changing product design to reach a higher degree of circularity. The mentioned and further standardization activities would be essential to kick the can down the circular economy road and are analyzed and summarized in this study. T2 - PLATE Product Lifetime and the Environment Conference 2023 CY - Espoo, Finland DA - 31.05.2023 KW - Circular Economy KW - Electronics KW - ICT KW - Standardization PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 5 AN - OPUS4-57613 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -