Achieving rapid and affordable home climate action: GdW initiates 'smart heating' showcase

The signing of the cooperation agreement by Axel Gedaschko, President of the GdW, and Dr Dirk Then, CEO of the noventic group, marks the official commencement of the GdW showcase. The objective of the initiative is for the participating GdW member companies to evaluate the digital end-to-end solution as part of the showcase and actively contribute to its development route, with varying levels of participation. The participation formats range from purely informative activities, including an individual property analysis, to equipping their own buildings and active participation in working committees. The working committees concentrate on three main areas: technology, economic efficiency in conjunction with the company's own building stock and tenant communication and integration.

Axel Gedaschko, GdW President: 'The German government is calling on the social housing industry to provide affordable housing and create new housing in line with an ambitious climate roadmap. Minimal-investment digital innovations are making the path to a climate-neutral building stock more realistic. The noventic solution makes a significant, robust and immediate contribution to this for existing properties. It also makes hydraulic balancing cost-effective for all parties involved – the housing industry and tenant households – with a favourable cost-benefit ratio.

Mr. Dirk Then, CEO of noventic: 'The necessity for rapid action is paramount to achieving the climate protection targets and the requisite energy savings. Building on tado°'s leading thermostat expertise, the solution has been specifically developed to meet the needs of the housing industry and for use in rented apartment blocks. Tenants benefit from intuitive control options on the thermostat or via an app, while housing companies gain a modernised solution that can be activated, including all services, which works with existing heating infrastructure in a retrofit.

We provide an end-to-end solution for the housing industry.

KALO installs smart thermostats and wireless infrastructure in existing housing management processes, digitally connecting and operating them as a full service throughout the product life cycle. This includes tenant onboarding and 24/7 tenant communication. The solution represents a low-cost modernisation measure that can be capitalised on the balance sheet and includes apportionable services.

Hydraulic balancing (method T)

Hydraulic balancing (procedure T)

The smart thermostats are equipped with the capability to implement adaptive hydronic balancing with the existing heating infrastructure. In comparison to traditional hydronic balancing, this procedure offers a more efficient and cost-effective solution. It eliminates the need for time-consuming valve replacement, for instance, while providing a quick and convenient alternative. TÜV Rheinland has verified and certified the effectiveness of the technology. Accordingly, it is at least equivalent to hydronic balancing according to methods A and B (VdZ).

Improving the energy efficiency class of existing buildings

Noventic analysed the effects of the overall solution for 17,500 flats in over 600 existing properties at the start of the 2023/2024 heating period. The analysis identified a large proportion of buildings in which it was economically viable for both housing companies and tenant households to be equipped with smart thermostats. By one energy efficiency class thanks to the use of smart thermostats, for example, 50% of the buildings were raised from energy efficiency class F to energy efficiency class E.