My Life With German Efficiency

(CBS)  CBSNews.com's Christine Lagorio is filing weekly dispatches from Berlin while writing for the Financial Times Deutschland as part of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Program.

---

Arrive at a dinner party in New York 15 minutes late and you're still about a half-hour early.

Arrive at a German dinner party 15 minutes late and you're, well, 15 minutes late. A table full of dirty looks will quite likely be your greeting. And you'll get an earfull. Don't take it too hard; consider it a lesson in German efficiency. The Germans, they are efficient. And punctuality is efficiency.

Although I learned the dinner-party rule by trial and error, most of the elements of daily life I associate with "efficiency" are tangible rather than conceptual. They are the simple machines - from window hinges to doorknobs to escalators - that we encounter almost constantly. They are little things, but a good deal of the time, in Berlin, they leave me impressed with their simplicity, and sometimes wondering "why don't we do this in the states?"

Example: sleep in a typical Berlin bedroom with the window open during a rainstorm and whatever's underneath - stacks of paper, books, your face snuggled up in a pillow - won't get drenched. That's because most windows are sunk several inches into a building's face, and can be tilted open at the top rather than sliding up from the base. Ah, German efficiency.

Other, smaller conveniences amuse me with their simplicity. To enter my aging, generally low-tech apartment building, I place a blue stick the size of a pen cap up to a glowing red dot on the wall. The heavy door pops open. To get into my office, I walk into a street-level elevator, place a card on a sensor and it takes me to my floor.

Since coming to Germany, I haven't seen crowds build up waiting to go through turnstiles for public transportation. To board the U-Bahn, one simply walks into the station, buys a ticket from an automated machine and waits for the train a certain number of minutes, which are displayed on an electronic board. Train doors open only when a rider presses a lever or button to open them, and doors close automatically when it is time to go. Quite unlike in the New York subway, here I've never interacted with - or even seen - an U-Bahn worker.

Efficiency bonus: When leaving the station, you might see an unmoving escalator. Certain New Yorkers (read: me) would assume it is broken. Not the case: it is just saving energy. Approach the still escalator and it will start moving to take you up.

Of course German production is legendary for its quality as well as streamlined production at a minimal cost. If a company anywhere in the world wants to build a motorized product, Germany will be on its radar as a place to set up shop. Among autos especially, a "Made in Germany" label ads credibility and cachet - think Mercedes here - and part of that is efficiency.

But back to the windows. Of the German homes I've been in, it is common to have either the aforementioned tilt-and-turn windows or a more classic double-shutter style window. You've probably seen these in the states, but here they are often double-paned and then doubled up to keep cold out in the winter. But they can be thrown wide open to a summertime breeze.

Many new buildings are designed such that little heating or cooling is ever needed. The office the Financial Times Deutschland is in an atrium-like building in the center of Berlin. Its roof is a massive glass-panelled arch. Coupled with the tall windows on all sides, this means individual offices very rarely turn on their overhead lights. And when the sun is too bright, thick shades outside the wall of windows roll down, keeping it cool inside.

I'm forgetting what air conditioning feels like. Despite the automated, electricity-using shades and elevator, I'm left thinking this must save a tremendous amount of energy.

Typical homes and apartments may not be so cutting edge, but occupants seem quite conscious of their energy use. Individual hot and cold water meters are inside nearly every apartment, usually placed above the sink or near the shower - conspicuously reminding what energy is being used. Clothes dryers - big energy-suckers - are extremely rare. Refrigerators are small. A toilet uses a fraction of the water used by an American toilet - so much less that one German friend of mine referred to U.S. toilets as "swimming pools." Recycling rules are strict and are followed.

In search of some basis around which to form my layperson concept of efficiency in German design, I trekked west to Berlin's Bauhaus museum, which chronicles the life and designs of the influential architectural design school of the same name founded in 1919 and run by Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

A quote by Gropius struck me. The goal of a designer should be make "the greatest possible effect with the least possible means."

To some of the Bauhaus students, this meant constructing an armchair with the fewest pieces of plywood — or planning a concrete building with clean lines and clear walkways.

An excerpt from the Principles of Bauhaus Production, from 1925, read, "An object … is expected to serve its purpose perfectly. It must fulfil its function in a practical way, be durable, inexpensive and beautiful."

A fluorescent light bulb went on. These modernist design goals of being "practical" and "inexpensive" mean something different in the 21st Century than they did to Bauhaus students.

Efficiency is no longer judged primarily at the factory level. Rising energy prices mean upkeep of a machine is more expensive, and coupled with a rising concern for climate change, it seems to have shifted the collective idea of what is "practical." Anticipating the costs of energy - heating, cooling, electricity, and even manpower - when designing and building … now that's efficient.

And here in Germany, it is the norm.

By Christine Lagorio

[sclaires]

My family was in Germany from 1954 to 1956 and there were some things we enjoyed such as the street cars. I know that conditions have changed since we were there and it sounds as though it is for the better. We didn''t have air conditioning but also didn''t need it. We lived in a house and when mother would do the laundry, she would hang the clothes in the basement to dry. I do know that you could walk in the forests without fear of all the bushes, vines, etc being in your way. And, they were safe back then. I do remember all the bicycles, bicycles with motors added, motorbikes, motorscooters, and motorcycles both with and without sidecars. And the cars were small and energy effecient. I know that I would like to go back to Germany just to see how everything has changed in the 40 years we have been away from there.

[gabbysmomrs]

I applaud the Germans for using practicality as a guide for the inventions. The windows are a wonderful idea (I too remember the windows in our school opening that way...except I think they opened inward.) Their inventions for saving energy are great! If we had nearby stores the small refrigerator makes a lot of sense...it would be quite a sacrifice, but we sure could save energy...all the ideas sound great for us to investigate. I''ve heard that in some countries the lights in hotels go on and turn off automatically as one walks down it. Why do we not have such things here? Our country enjoys the extravant use of energy and other resources. I think it is about time to begin looking into the ways other countries are using to save energy and simplify our lives.

And no, I don''t think the countries we should take into account are the third-world ones.

[johnpatrick9]

For better or worse the Germans have a sense of community while we still think we are on the frontier and the devil with the other guy for it is all about "me " We are no longer the future but are becoming dinosaurs with our inequalities of wealth and selfish materialism. Been to Europe , lived there and feel the backwardness economically and socially here in the once advanced USA. Something is very wrong here for so many just dont care about their community, city or take any pride in where they live and view their fellow "citizens" as economic competion to strive against. Not a very happy land anymore and our crummy leadership (that a laugh) does not help our situation.

[andrew_693]

efh123, you obviously don''t know your country very well. I lived in the US for 20 years and let me tell you, I have seen filth in American homes more than in Germany or most countries I visited. In Mississippi there were cockroaches everywhere, let''s not even go into the New York city rats that you can enjoy as part of your meal in any KFC or taco bell. Americans tend to be quite filthy people. If you walk into most people''s apartment you will find clothes all over the floor, food, all kinds of sh....t !!. Mosquitoes? hehe go anywhere in the South you will be eaten by mosquitoes. Flies, are everywhere in the world I don''t know why you made such a big deal about some flies.

[mollydtt]

As long as the U S keeps energy prices artificially low (tiny taxes on gasoline, etc.) Americans will never think about how much energy they use--they can afford it. Why buy a smaller car when you can afford to fill up the Hummer.
Electricity prices are low enough that many people don''t use cost-saving materials when constructing a house.
Bottom line, Americans can keep buying fuel-inefficient cars, and use energy inefficiently at home and at work, because it isn''t as precious to us as it should be.

[brianbwb-2009]

The problem in America is there is backward logic, talk about saving energy, and some idiot capitalist will chide you for causing job losses, or adversely affecting profit margins.

[michellem99-2009]

I use cloth bags in super market and other stores. Alway have. Can wash them. The store bags can be reused. I have to tell them got my bags..They like that. Not many in America is keen on clothe bags. I walk and the bags wont break as they are cloth.

[michellem99-2009]

I went to a school in Maine where the teacher used a long poll to open the window-the building was old. The germans can give nasty looks but wasted on the blind.
I believe being on time. But they maybe doing some things right and some wrong. I am not comfortable with tech of the transit. Computer is nice,but it can''t interact with a special needs person. That I know to well. That is in America. No we don''t see eye to eye on chruch. Never will.

[efh123]

One thing not mentioned is the number of flies in Germans'' homes. When we visited relatives in Germany it was really different eating a meal and having a number of flies checking out the food. Also, at night I got bit often by mosquitoes buzzing around in the bedroom. And their refigerators are very small. One of the last days we were there, my aunt left the jello out on the counter to set. When we ate it for dinner there were a lot of little black bugs in it. My brother said, "Oh look, Tante Hilde put raisins in the jello (he knew they were bugs)." I couldn''t stop laughing and my relatives, who don''t speak English, were wondering what we were laughing at (my mother was ready to kill us). Every country has its ways of doing things. I know there''s a lot to admire about Germany, but until they invent a way to put screens on their windows, I''ll stick with our windows and screen doors.

[luvcomments]

I''ve always wondered why so many American windows don''t open at the top. Seems stupid to me that on a hot day you can open only the bottom window while the warm air always rises to the top of the room. And that has nothing to do with Germans being smart - just appears the people who designed those American windows that way are stupid.

As for Germans not having a sense of humor, I do believe that used to be true - or seemed that way. Not any more. They have a wonderful sense of humor. Probably why they laugh at Americans so much :)