Category: society

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Home extension

Most people think of home extension as some sort of extension of the roof, an additional room or the transformation of a garage into an additional room. However, the digital home requires a home extension of a different kind. In order for all rooms to be included into the digital home a range extender of your wireless might be necessary. Yes, this even includes the bathrooms, because otherwise you can no longer sing along your favourite tune under the shower if you are used to the streaming of the musical or orchestral accompaniment. Additionally, the immediate surroundings of a home with or without garden might make it necessary for your robot to mow properly or your digital letter box to send you the mail for the long awaited love letters while you out of home.
Being out of range in your home, is almost equal to not being home at all. Of course, you don’t have to automatically send an out of home message to all your contacts when you are too far away from your digital home for your digital device, but the comfort of a range extender may avoid the new “digital inequality” between adolescents in your home. Room choices are made according to wireless access points and signal strength rather than the room with the best view. Lots of new issues arise we did not even think we would have 10 years ago. Of course, we follow the suggestions of an AI chatbot that recommends the best location for us after we entered images and descriptions of the consistency of each wall into the system. Just a practical advice, install extensions out of reach of any toddler, because a sudden interruption of the connection will create very unpleasant surprises.

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Satie Popular

Erik Satie has been quite involved with the surrealist and Dada movement of his time. He personally knew the main proponents ranging from Breton to Magritte. He became one of the major figures applying the ideas of surrealism to music. His early compositions like the Gnossienne (extract of Nr. 1 below) are admired for their simplicity. They became popular only years later and have entered popular music repertoire through many retakes of the original tune in various styles ranging from jazz to rap. Many of Satie’s formative years he spent playing and performing popular music in the animated cafés, bars and shows of Montmartre in Paris. The making of a living based on music can be a challenge. Satie had to bear the full risk of a life in poverty at times to reserve sufficient time for his creative work.
He remained very much connected to the working class as his later membership of the Communist party after the Great War testifies. Composing for children and transmitting music to the next generation was equally close to his heart and mind, especially in his later years.
For him, popular music constituted a fountain of original tunes and a test with an intuitive audience rather than the academic circles. Maybe, with this attitude, he followed the footsteps of Flotow, Offenbach, Ravel and many others later on until pop music became the vastly dominant music in the late 20th and 21st centuries.

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Erik Satie Satisfied

The collection of letters from Erik Satie contains more than 1000 letters amongst them some in exchange with the best artists of his time. The range is largely due to the circle of artists who met at Montmartre in Paris before and during the Great War. We discover letters to Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Pablo Picasso or Henri Matisse. For some artists there are 100+ letters preserved like to Jean Cocteau. In the 1920s he composed music for shows at Montmartre, where the scenario was painted by Pablo Picasso and costumes designed by Coco Chanel. The sculpture by Brancusi must have been familiar to him, just as much as the cubist paintings by Georges Braques, as there are also letters or references to such letters in the impressive 1000+ pages collection. Like Ravel he was rejected by the Conservatoire de Musique de Paris in his early days as student. Montmartre allowed to live and create at the same time while living on a minimal budget. Erik Satie signed his letters with ES. In German this denotes a “neutrum”, maybe, beyond male or female differentiation, but also a tonality in music (E flat). There is no trace that this was a conscious choice. It is just another unresolved puzzle about the self-declared “Gymnopédiste” and composer of the “Parade” and the popular piano music the “Gnossienne”. 100 years after his death on 1925-7-1 he (ES) could be rather satisfied with his impact on the course of music in the 20th century and beyond.

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Smart Heat Pumps

The potential to reduce CO2 emissions through the replacement of fossil fuels with heat pumps is huge. The technology is well known and has reached a considerable amount of maturity in the mid 2020s. Noise is much less an issue even at higher compression rates and during the use of booster functions to cater for peaks of hot water or home heating. Combined with solar energy the local production and consumption of energy turn each household into a “prosumer” of energy. Besides the initial investment you have to find capable technicians and enterprises that master the installation of the technology with the necessary care and ensure the adequate calculation of the envisaged energy needs of the household. Household and family size matter, and this is not easy to project into the future. Additional saving potentials can be harvested through the use of smart home applications. Switch off the heating before you leave or if a longer than previewed absence occurs. Just do it if you are away from home. Alternatively, just start the heating when you get on your way back home from work rather than at previously estimated, but fixed times. Smart technology is just perfect for such use cases.

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Archers destroyed

In the attempt to explain modern warfare to people, the Roman and medieval languages are staging a comeback. The archers have found their way from warfare into art history and back again. George Barros explains recent defensive actions by Ukrainian military forces as the strategy to put the archers out of power rather than the arches.
Destroyed or unfit air planes can no longer launch missiles or bombs. The Russian reserves are, however, fairly numerous, but the air strikes on the modern archers have demonstrated an astonishing military intelligence on the Ukrainian side. The technological advances of the Ukrainian military services may shift the balance or raise the costs of war to Russia, considerably.

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Citizen Walk

Capitals like Paris and Berlin make great efforts to improve the walkability of their cities. After decades of focus on automotive traffic and mobility and the detrimental effects on health for several generations of people, the awareness that walking citizens are part of the solution is spreading. Citizens of Paris voted in a referendum to stop circulation of cars in 500 more streets. In Berlin pedestrians unite to mobilize more people to take to the streets as well and reclaim walking space. In high density spaces like metropolitan areas it is possible to reach all major amenities within a reasonable walking distance. The more spread out suburban area, however, leve fewer options to walk and carry your shopping or do your dily commute to work while walking. Fewer cars and pharmaceutical products sold would mean less „artificial economic growth, but more healthy and happy citizens. It will take decades again to realize such visions.

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Paris Gare

Train stations in metropolitan inner cities are hot spots of traffic and mobility. The number of people passing through these exchanges are impressive. Public transport systems are continuously put to the test of their capacity to handle passengers who want to get from A to B the fastest way possible. In Paris the RER lines, metro and buses to a great job in handling the affluence of passengers. The comparatively small number of passengers arriving and departing nyy taxi, however, still take a disproportionate amount of space. That’s part of the differentiation or inequality of mobility in Paris. Person‘s in need of assistance should have special access to central points of mobility like train stations. Everybody else could rely on shared modes of transportation otherwise the millions of inhabitants will not be able to get around in a comfortable way.

 

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Retirement Recruitment

The debate that later retirement of seniors reduces the hiring of youth has received new attention. Paul Mohnen published a paper on the “retirement slowdown on the US youth labor market” , which demonstrates this “crowding out effect”. Moreover, the recruitment of middle aged workers is also affected, as job changes slowed down for these age groups. The surprising finding is that higher skilled youth suffers the largest reduction in employment opportunities and become “pulled” into lower skilled jobs as jo offers for lower skilled persons remained high during the observation periods (until 2017!). This evidence suggests that the well-documented firm-level effect of fewer retirement means less recruitment holds also for society as a whole. Knowing that recruitment during a recession affects young workers more than persons already in employment, the macro level effects in 2025 will be rather unfavorable for young labor market entrants. (Image Frans Hals 1625, Odessa Museum in Berlin exhibition 2025).

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Artist Development

For many artists it takes years before they find their idiosyncratic style. Testing different forms of art before zooming in on a particular style of art is the  common trajectory for most artists. Maybe the art marker and collectors of art are in search of a “defining style” for an artist so the uniqueness becomes more easily identifiable. Being part of a group of artists has been beneficial as well. The “Neue Nationalgalerie” in Berlin makes this development of an artist, in this case Lygia Clark transparent through the organization of a retrospective devoted to her evolution from abstract paintings towards participative and more organic forms of art. Berlin offers to interact with the pieces at the exhibition. You become part of the exhibition and the happening of art instantaneously. The form stays the same, the persons interacting change permanently. The piece of art is never the same. Just the idea of it thrives. In the Corpo Colletivo the performers wear an overall, all of them are linked to each other and movements happen organically as a group rather than individually. This is like a tutorial in sociology as individuals move as part of a collective body and feel the embeddedness and multiple links to other persons (Image: Corpo Collectivo 1970, exhibit in Berlin 2025)

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Dream together

„Dream together“ is the title of the exhibition of Yoko Ono at the „Neue Nationalgalerie“ in Berlin 2025. The title is an invitation or even an incitement to dream jointly with others. We need to dream of peace on all sides or parties in a war. Start with the dream and then move on to working together on it. The participatory art projects of Yoko Ono are a recurring event in Berlin and at the Neue Nationalgalerie (Cut piece). The installation „Wish Tree for Berlin“ in front of the gallery is popular with visitors who leave hundreds of written wishes to the windy spring days. Origami folding, stone assembling or a simultaneous chessboard playing with all white pieces and fields encourage to imagine a world differently, beyond the treaded belligerent paths. For more inspiration and imagination just continue to the Martin Gropiusbau for more artworks from Ono or just watch the clouds pass by changing the lighting of the olive tree carrying lots of wishes.

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Permanently anxious

„There’s a set of forces that want us to be permanently anxious“, is the phrase chosen by Tony Cokes in the exhibit just outside the „Palais Populaire“ in Berlin in 2025-5. International politics and the economic upheaval caused by Trump’s tariffs contribute to the already existing other sources of anxiety like nuclear energy and warfare. Global warming causing more extreme weather events add more man-made reasons for anxiety. The next generations will have to foot the bills we have left to them unpaid. Our current shortsightedness increases anxieties which previous generations have not known of a similar kind or in that combination. 

Community building and solidarity are ways to overcome such overwhelming anxieties. Supranational organizations like the European Union have an even stronger role to play to reassure its people with credible signs of solidarity. We are not alone in the struggle to overcome the anxiety that is creeping up around us. We are certainly stronger together than individually dealing with unspecified fears. „We shall overcome …“

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Margot Friedländer memorial

Berlin has been honored by the return of Margot Friedländer who had survived the Shoa in 2010 at the age of 88. Her whole family was murdered in concentration camps by the Nazis. Ever since her return and especially after her biography had been published she was a restless ambassador in the fight against hate, exclusion and the neo-fascist movements. She has been engaged in interreligious dialogue and even through the ceremony after her death, she tried to bring together different Jewish communities in Berlin.
Irrespective of a person’s background she met everybody on an equal level.
A great example to thousands of people, she managed to meet in her life. Each time she met with pupils or students to speak about her horrific experiences she lived through the same traumatic experiences again and again, but turning this into the strength to “vaccinate” people against the deadly virus of fascism.
The day after she had been buried in her family’s grave in Berlin Weißensee people still had to queue to sign the book in her memory in the Berlin town hall. She will be remembered and missed for her unrivalled humanity and generosity. She became engaged to fight for humanity and remained an activist until her very last day at 103 years of age.

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Non-autonomous driving

The more engineers will invest in developing autonomous driving vehicles, the more the value of the few completely non-autonomous cars will rise. A 60 years old car with manual gear changing on the steering wheel like the Peugeot 404 from 1965 (image below) demands a strong effort to steer the car around a city. Apparently, some car producers reintroduce buttons to press or switch on devices since customers seem to prefer some manual activity in addition to the touchscreen technology. Voice guidance and gestures can be helpful for some, but there are also the advantages of manual activities that keep you awake and maybe with better focus. Choice is key to suit diverse user and customer preferences.

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Leber JA

In Berlin Schoeneberg there is a memorial in preparation for the courageous couple of Julius and Annedore Leber. Julius Leber has been incarcerated several times by the Nazi officials, tortured and finally executed in Berlin. A link to the group of people trying to overthrow the NS regime (1944-7-20) caused his arrest and execution in January 1945. His wife Annedore published several accounts of the resistance movements, which existed during the NS regime. These people were aware of the fact that they were risking their life with such activities, but persisted nevertheless. We owe Julius and Annedore Leber a decent commemoration as we need to remember that such courageous examples existed even until the last few months of the NS dictatorship. The site allows for a building and learning center which could serve as an archive and encouragement to fight for democracy. It is less obvious than we thought it would be.

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Constitutional Responsibility

The memory of horrors caused by Nazi-led Germany before and during the 2nd World War is our constitutional obligation in the Federal Republic of Germany since its beginnings in 1948. 80 years after the unconditional surrender this has become a state responsibility. Since the shift of tone introduced by Richard von Weizäcker on 8th of May 1985 framing the end of the 2nd WW as liberation day in Europe and Germany. On the same day, 40 years later, the top 5 political instances of democracy in Germany, president, chancellor, presidents of the parliament (1st chanber), the council of the regions (2nd chamber) as well as the constitutional court. The constitutional and moral responsibility of the crimes is not reserved to a presidential address, but all pilars of democracy in Germany committed to the narrative of a liberation of Germans and Europeans at the end of the 2WW. It is a truly European topic to celebrate the end of war jointly in all countries. This is even more the case as the memories of the last survivors of the Shoa in Europe is less transmitted by the rare survivors until today due to very old age. The impressive unity of the top constitutional powers sets a the path for a far reaching renewal of the acknowledgement of a specific constitutional responsibility to counter extremist tendencies. The speeches by Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Julia Klöckner in the Bundestag (Link in German) were remarkable in explaining in plain language, why we are happy about this liberation also in Germany. The emphasis of the end of pervasive and endless oppression and suffering caused by the Nazi-regime are an essential part of this feeling of liberation. With this commemoration Germany today has become even more a European nation which takes its historical responsibility seriously.

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Gedächtniskirche Berlin

The church of commemoration „Gedächtniskirche“ in German has been chosen as the central place of commemoration on Liberation Day in Germany for the ceremony of all religions. All institutions of democracy were represented in addition to the president of the FRG. The church was destroyed, but not completely and the decision to keep the remainders as a permanent warning is visited by thousands of people each year. The public television broadcasts live from the ceremony and some regions of Germany have chosen Liberation Day as a bank holiday following many other European countries. The official end of fighting of the 2nd World War 80 years ago has spurred many events. The need to understand how this could happen and how to guard against extremism to take hold of a country and start a war have preoccupied following generations. The task is not accomplished yet as many people still deny the facts or try to rewrite historical facts with misleading interpretations. The commemoration is well worth a pause to reflect, for example, what were my grandparents doing during these years. Beyond the speeches on this day there are many ways to get involved in carrying the memories to the ones born later.

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Ugly duckling revival

Ever since Hans Christian Andersen created the fairy tale of the “ugly duckling” (1843) the story has been adapted to all forms of theatre. The adaptation of the fairy tale to the stage in 2019 and the revival in 2023 at the “Deutsches Theater” in Berlin keeps inspiring people to surpass their restrictions or inhibitions, whatever they may be. This early 19th century fairy tale is a fine piece of the search of identity of a person. As it deals with the difficulty of individuals to find their own identity, the fairy tale deals already with the fitting of an individual into society. Society exercises pressure on individuals to conform to written and unwritten rules, which tend to hold up rules like “one size fits all”. Differentiation and allowing individuals to be different from an established norm becomes a central theme of modernity and even more so in the post-modern world. It is the essence of democratic societies to practice a tolerance of persons being or just wanting to be different. The performance at the “Deutsches Theater” might be a test of your level of tolerance or acceptance of diversity for some, but at the time of rising intolerance in and beyond the U.S. under Trump, such performances are dearly needed to celebrate the rich cultural heritage and achievements of far reaching tolerance. It becomes more evident what we are about to loose (again), if such performances would no longer be possible in a controlled or financially overly restricted world of theatre.

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War of drones

The use of drones in warfare is not new in 2025. However, the news reported in the WSJ 2025-05-05 that sea drones from Ukraine with U.S. adapted missiles downed 2 Russian jet fighters made headlines. Compared to jet fighters such drones carrying missiles are a rather cost-effective alternative in warfare. The speed of jets compared to drones made such successful attempts rather unlikely. The information that infrared technology can achieve such identification of targets and guiding missiles is another innovation of the Ukrainian military technology.
Technology is well known to be a game changer in warfare for centuries or across the whole military history. Adaptations of defense strategies will allow Ukraine to hold against the Russian aggression albeit limited financial resources. The defense of air space is one of the crucial elements for Ukraine to deter Russia from moving further ahead through the continuation to increase the costs of war to Russia.
Following a fast moving object and transforming it into a target is an astonishing accomplishment.

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More sensors

The technical games that have largely replaced the traditional electrical train and cars of the boomers and older generations shift towards robotics. This has the touch of more future orientation and fun for the young used to gadgets, automation and the beginnings of AI. Therefore, the robots of our children and the ones they assemble in technical games include more sensors. Infrared emission and reception have been present already for some years, but the capture, use and application of sound in children’s games is a bit more recent. In order to assess and understand the far reaching potential of these additional sensors in our homes and environments it is essential to raise awareness through technical games and own experiences or experiments. Educational games are a useful addition to the repertoire of learning for younger generations. Accompanied learning is more likely to keep young people interested in technology and raise awareness for the potential of intrusion into privacy of technology as well. The robots will be more and more part of our daily lives. A better understanding of limitations and potentials will be necessary for all citizens in the 21st century.

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Labour Day Berlin 2025

In 2025 Labour Day Parade in Berlin started again on Karl-Marx-Allee to the destination at the “Rotes Rathaus”, the red brick City Hall of Berlin. The slogan: “Mach dich stark mit uns” (engl. empower yourself with us) refers to the building up of force by members of the trade union movement in growing bigger again. Solidarity in crisis is currently tested again in each collective bargaining and negotiations at the local, sectoral, regional, national and European level. However, on the 1st of May the parade obviously has the political part with the speeches, but also the family party atmosphere towards the end at the Neptun fountain at Alexanderplatz. Large crowds come out in Berlin and the organizers of the DGB and the police do a great job to ensure a safe and enjoyable demonstration in the heart of Berlin. More impressions on the mobilizing event here. Images from Berlin Labour Day 2025.

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Robot assistant

Adjustment processes on the labour market take their time. This means that care workers are in short supply in most countries of the OECD. Engineers as well. There are so many robots, care robots I mean, still to develop that the shortage of engineers give little hope that we shall have affordable solutions in this area for the next few years. The issue is mainly about integrating and enhancing already existing solutions. If you are a mechanical engineer you can put together motorised mechanical pieces, small motorised electric devices and, for example, small infrared emitting and receiving devises.
All this is child’s play these days (see image below). The assembling of a small Robot assistant that follows movements or can escape from a small labyrinth makes such simple structures transparent for learners and users. There is nothing magical about it, just adding together small pieces and the electronic devices to steer the movements. The learning tool from KOSMOS has been on the market for 5 years. It is a helpful device to explain basics through hands-on experience. The limits of robotics equally become more evident. Our own health and safety is concerned with larger devices cohabiting with us. A robot assistant can take on easy tasks like to follow me through my living space in old age carrying a mobile phone, keys or an emergency device. More sophisticated tasks need more sensors and AI to train the most needed and best routines. For many years this needs our input and our control as well as supervision of such devices. Most robots will operate as assistants with us in the driving seat or the boss.
This is yet another element of the “all electric society“. We are moving towards the use of more electronics assisting us from year to year.

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Archi health

The links between architecture and human health are manifold. There are direct effects of healthy versus unhealthy materials in construction. For the purpose of making buildings fire proof or more resistant to heat asbestos had been used for decades which still causes health hazards nowadays in the removal of this cancerous material. Paint has to be chosen wisely as well as isolation materials. Indirect or second round effects of materials have to be considered additionally. Cement in construction uses a lot of energy in its production and has only been recycled since a few years in significant amounts. Room climate or even psychological effects of architecture have been considered to be important more seriously in recent years. A new discipline entitled “neuro-architecture” may be developed soon. Schools, sports facilities, hospitals or community centers benefit from healthy architecture. Cost benefit analyses which take into account long term effects and even recycling of materials shift the balance much in favor of health considerations also in architecture. “Fast and dirty” will be much more expensive than “slow and healthy”. Future generations will be thankful. (Image: Spreewald Primary school Berlin).

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Marx Home

The home of an influential philosopher, economist and political scientist is not easily presented like a home of a musician, a composer or an author. However, the home of Karl Marx in Trier on the Moselle river succeeds to present the biographical links of growing up in a historic city, the bourgeois upbringing of the young Marx and his formation as an independent and even revolutionary thinker of the economy and society. In 2025 the home is a museum supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foudation with a great online guide and access to additional scientific material. For authors like Karl Marx it is always of interest to follow not only the origin and evolution of the thought process, but also the shifts in the reception of his writings by subsequent generations. This part of the exhibition and an audio guide (downloadable as App).

In 2025 with an apparently ruthless capitalism at work in the biggest economy of the globe, the reminder that the economy is best to be understood as a political economy, which focuses on self-interest and profitable business deals, we find in Karl Marx still a worthwhile reminder of economic development even in the 21st century. The note-taking and studies in Exile in London are well documented in the tiny home and museum. Studying the misery of exploitation in supply chains and international commerce remains a topic of continuing interest as well. 

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Liszt home

In Budapest we can visit one of the longer living places of Franz Liszt or Ferenc Liszt as some Hungarians would insist to call him. The Beethoven trained Carl Czerny offered piano and music classes free of charge to the young Franz Liszt in Vienna at the age of 11. In the biography by Klára Hamburger she describes the Paris years of Liszt from 1823 until 1839 as the most important ones for the pianist and particularly for his later compositions. Born in Hungary, the son of 2 Austrian parents he was trained in Paris by amongst others the Czech professor of the Conservatoire de Paris Antonin Reicha just like Chopin, Flotow or Offenbach. Writing an opera was the “must do” for a composer who aimed for the highest possible career at the time. In a letter to George Sand, Liszt (published 1937) complained already about the social status of musicians in society as servants to the higher ranks of society. Similar to Ravel many years later Liszt was rejected as official scholar by the Conservatoire de Musique and his wish to marry a daughter of noble decent was rejected early in his career. Such experiences probably contributed to his leaning towards the romantic form of expressions in music during most of his compositions. Literature, paintings of the French romantic period and the traveling artist “voyages et pèlerinages” became influential in his creative process. The competition between composers must have been fierce at the time and despite ample opportunities to perform in public and private venues making a living from music wasn’t always easy at the beginning. More than 100 years after his death his compositions are still a challenge for all pianists and the Hungarian Rhapsodies probably his greatest homage to his early childhood.

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Beethoven Home

The home of Beethoven in Bonn is nicely preserved and full of objects related to his life and his creative work. For the musician and composer musical instruments have accompanied him throughout his life. The visit of his home of birth offers a chance to dive into the extraordinary accomplishments of this great figure of the late 18th and early 19th century. His 9th symphony is strong as ever and the European anthem has just more than 200 years since the first performance now. The visit of the museum is still the highlight of Bonn and the App of the Beethoven House offers unique insights into and listening of his manifold compositions. Handwritten notes and a pocketbook of preparations for the symphony demonstrate the all encompassing nature of music for Beethoven. From romantic letters to the romantic music pieces, the museum has it all. Even it is a rather tiny house from the outside the inner life is as huge as it can be. It is advisable to take at least half a day for the visit much more than you would usually take for visit of a museum. The link between the biographical information and listening to linked musical pieces with a chronological context are a unique experience. This spurs the interest to listen or listen again to some of the romantic masterpieces. The App is great also to listen directly to some of the music.

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Sovereignty of People

In France the judiciary has made an influential decision to ban a politician from the possibility to be elected after conviction of fraud. This is just what is to be expected from the 3rd power in the organization of a democratic state. It is surprising that there was a political debate about a person convicted for a crime to be eligible for public office. Several eminent scholars published columns in major newspapers to support the judicial decision. Pierre Rosanvallon focused both on the justification of the verdict and the constitutional role attributed to the judiciary to operate as a kind of memory of the “general will of the people”, the ultimate sovereign. In the struggle of power within a state the judiciary defends individual rights as well as moderates between the executive and the legislative branch. In the theory of democracy this creates a double bind situation in which the individual has a right to be defended against the state and individuals who ask for judgment of cases one against another one. Eric Halphen has also argued in favor of the often neglected role of the judiciary to stand up for the “general interest”, a notion which is not easy to define without historical references in each country and its historical trajectory of democracy. The short debate about the role of the judiciary has strengthened the defensive capacity of the French democracy. Other, even mature democracies may turn their eyes on the decision of the judges involved not to shun away from unpopular decisions. The independence of the judiciary is part of the sovereignty of the people and non-negotiable part of it.

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Owners Dispute

Renovations of housing with distributed ownerships can be a challenging experience. In Berlin you can find a few places with visible long-term disagreement about what kind of modernization should be done. More luxurious additions like balconies or triple window isolation and so on are sometimes hotly debated and contested in courts. For most buildings you cannot spot disagreements on the outside, but some constitute exceptions to this rule. One size does not fit all preferences. In a metropolitan city there is a place and a space for all such exceptions to the rule and most people after years do no longer think about such kind of diversity in preferences or budgets available for modernization. Cities put our level of tolerance to a continuous test. You probably learn to love this or eventually you leave the inner city. There are subtle differences in urban versus rural lifestyles. In the social sciences we continue to try to understand the attraction of cities as on a global scale millions of people flock to cities.

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Own Production

The 21st century has seen many innovations. Solar energy has been around for at least 3 decades now, but the wide spread application and adoption of it through consumers has taken quite a while. Nowadays you can buy a reasonably priced solar panel in your local shop selling gardening tools and home appliances. Solar panels have moved from a niche product to become an ordinary home enhancement product. Previously, the production of energy was highly regulated and restricted to business activities. Hence as producer and consumer of your own energy you became a “prosumer” of energy. Just refrain from selling the energy to your neighbors and you will be happy monitoring your own energy production and your energy consumption throughout the day as well. Suddenly, you might make a few behavioral adjustments to your daily routine. Throughout the day when the sun is shining bright you start to think of what kind of energy consumption you might want to switch on at the time. Charging mobile phones, cooking meals and washing are the obvious candidates that do the trick. Charging a battery of a bicycle(s) is also a good idea. The excursion of the evening or cycling to work the next few days is feasible with this as well. There is a slight danger to check the energy production frequently to optimize the return on your investment. In this case it might be expedient to invest also in a battery to store the energy  for a longer time. No stress for consuming your nuggets, but initial investment costs are substantially higher, albeit prices for batteries have come down significantly in the last few months. “Prosit prosumers”.

 

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Sun power

Statistics of hours of sunshine in Germany and many European countries show an extraordinary amount of sunny days in March 2025 compared to previous years. This opens up a window of opportunity to produce electricity already in a month previously less likely to yield a lot of energy. With more likely 8 months of decent electricity production the efficiency of investments in solar energy reach break even points earlier. Time to think of expanding the share of renewable energy even further. The cost effectiveness is improving in rather unpredictable ways. Economists, of course, consider opportunity costs in this case the alternative to use oil or gas despite the higher levels of CO2 emissions. As the prices are currently lower as well, without an easily predictable trend, solar alternatives are a valid option.

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Retirement Plans

There are debates about the best organization of retirement. The major fault lines lie between public pension systems and systems that are built based on mainly private provision. Retirement plans in either system are subject to constraints. The recent stock market turbulence has increased the amount of uncertainty people face who invested in 401K plans in the US. Some had to take an unannounced hit to their retirement savings due to the loss after Trump’s back and forth policies on tariffs (OECD Pension Outlook). High volatility of stock market prices creates an additional constraint that you are less inclined to retire when your retirement investments have overall a reduced value. You are a bit at the mercy of capital markets even in your retirement decision, irrespective of the difficulty to predict what your retirement funds will yield as returns. Quite an important lesson to keep in mind when comparing retirement systems in OECD countries. It has been all too easy to blame public pension systems for maybe lower short term interests on pension savings. Being subject to an American president concerning your retirement plans is probably not what many countries would like to have. Trump’s choices on tariffs may have consequences we did not expect to affect us so directly.