From January 1st, 2021, CO2 emissions trading will be expanded to include the heating and transport sectors: This should make heating with fossil fuels such as oil and gas less attractive. In order to keep the increase in gross warm rents at an acceptable level, the discussion about the distribution of costs was initiated: The Federal Ministries for Finance, Environment and Justice propose that the costs incurred should be allocated to tenants to a maximum of 50 percent limit. Landlords should therefore bear half of the additional costs. The General Association of the German Housing Industry (GdW) warns: This could delay the necessary investments in energy-efficient renovations. The GdW relies on considering the cost allocation depending on the renovation status of the property.
Discussions over recent weeks have shown that, alongside Covid-19, familiar issues such as climate protection, digitisation and integrated energy have not gone away. The protective measures taken against the pandemic in recent months have created new impetus, for instance the federal government's stimulus package. What does that mean for the climate-smart transformation of our building stock?
As the smart meter rollout proceeds, the energy industry and the real estate sector are growing ever closer. At the Berliner Energietage (Berlin Energy Days), which took place for the first time this year as the “digital summer of the energy transition”, it was once again clear what opportunities the smart meter rollout had opened up for companies from both sectors. On Tuesday 9 June the sectoral experts Axel Gedaschko (President of the GdW (Bundesverband deutscher Wohnungs- und Immobilienunternehmen, Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Enterprise Registered Associations)), Michael Wübbels (Deputy Managing Director of the VKU (Verband kommunaler Unternehmen, Association of Local Public Utilities) and Ingo Schönberg (director responsible for energy technology at ZVEI (Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie, Central Association of the Electrical and Electronic Industry) and managing director of PPC (Power Plus Communications)) came together for a virtual dialogue. Where do we stand today, almost six months after the official launch of the smart meter rollout? What opportunities can municipal utility providers and housing associations see? And how can potential opportunities best be exploited by municipal players?
School trips to the Klimahaus (Climate House) in Bremerhaven are something special: exciting, because that’s just the way it is with school trips. Intriguing, because the climate is transformed from something abstract into a tangible force. That is why noventic invited Hamburg fourth-year schoolchildren on a memorable day trip traversing different climatic zones along the eighth parallel of longitude.
In open technology systems, data can be exchanged via agreed interface standards, regardless of the manufacturer. This is the basis for economical and future-proof solutions in climate-smart building control.
The federal government’s climate targets pose major challenges for the real estate industry: particularly when it comes to existing buildings, owners and managers face a giant task in coping with the growing demands for energy efficiency and climate protection. The regulatory underpinnings for this are often enshrined both in European law and the resultant derived national legal provisions. In complying with these requirements, without losing sight of precepts of economy and affordable living space, low-investment measures could offer helpful leverage. The digitisation of the building infrastructure lays the foundations for the optimum management of energy installations and maximum consumption transparency for users, as well as allowing portfolio holders also to make valuable efficiency gains.
The Climate Cabinet will be holding its first meeting this week. This newly created body’s remit is to come up with draft legislation whereby Germany will be able to meet its climate targets for 2030 and 2050. What new legislative initiatives the new Climate Cabinet will actually bring about remains doubtful. Similarly doubtful is whether the federal government will finally make climate protection a priority and swiftly get the necessary measures off the ground. That will also take time. As the Environment Ministry’s climate protection report revealed on publication in February, Germany is not doing enough to achieve the 2020 climate protection targets. To push ahead with ambitious climate protection targets, legislative action will be indispensable.
Legal initiatives like the EED were designed to help limit climate change and promote more efficient use of energy. The amended EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) was passed by the EU Council of Ministers at the end of last year. A key component of the new directive is the provision of all-year-round consumption information for residents and the requirement to use radio metering technology for consumption recording. What will the ambitious targets set by the amended version of the EED mean for the housing industry? Is there a need to act? Stephan Kiermeyer, CEO of the noventic subsidiary KALO, answers the most pressing questions.
A development by noventic shows that climate protection can be very simple: The 'Cards' app playfully involves tenants in actively saving energy on a daily basis and, as a side effect, helps to protect the building fabric. The app was awarded the Innovation Prize by the German Property Federation (ZIA) at the Real Estate Industry Day on 13 June 2018.
Warm rooms, a good indoor climate - with lower energy consumption costs. And doing something for climate protection at the same time. That sounds good - but it costs money to produce. In the public perception, energy-efficient refurbishment of buildings is often accompanied by rent increases that make your own home unaffordable. Is that true?
The German Energy Agency has published the first interim results of its flagship study 'Integrated Energy Transition'. The interim results show that digitalisation and technology-neutral solutions can reduce CO2 emissions in Germany by up to 90 per cent by 2050.
The convergence of climate change and digitalisation presents building owners with a unique opportunity to enhance economic efficiency and climate protection simultaneously. This can be achieved through climate-intelligent property management, which integrates these two objectives in a mutually reinforcing manner.
