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Over the next few years, cities and local authorities in Germany will be obliged to draw up a municipal heating plan and develop climate-friendly, local heat sources in order to integrate them into the heating infrastructure. 
In the search for productive sources, wastewater is increasingly becoming the focus of attention. Especially in densely populated cities and urban centres. Wastewater has a temperature of between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius in the sewer and is available in abundance throughout the day when heat (or cold) is needed. Around ten billion cubic metres of wastewater flow through the German sewer system every year.

Thermal bridges ( also called cold bridges) are all spots in the building through which more heat is lost from the inside to the outside than through the surrounding areas. Heat is therefore lost more quickly there than in other parts of the building. In our blog post, we describe how thermal bridges affect energy efficiency, what their consequences can be and what measures you can take against them during construction and renovation.

At the end of May 2023, the three millionth PV system was registered with the German Federal Network Agency. According to the German Solar Industry Association (BSW Solar), this means that over 70 gigawatts of capacity have now been installed in Germany. 
In this context, PV systems that are mounted vertically on façades, balconies and fences also play a role, albeit a smaller one. These have recently been gaining in significance and are being discussed as an alternative or additional surface to conventional roof installations.

Urban heat transition, of course! But sources for heat pumps are often scarce, especially in inner cities. The building stock is densely packed and usually has several storeys. What could be more obvious than to use the building skin itself as a source? In her dissertation, our colleague Dr.-Ing. Lotta Koch investigated the efficiency of façade collectors made of high-performance concrete UHPC.

In the context of renovating older buildings, one increasingly stumbles across the term "serial retrofitting". But what is actually meant by this? And why is it so important to know this term?
We provide a definition and give an overview of the requirements for funding according to German BEG WG.

Buildings protect users from cold, damp and heat. Summer heat protection is an issue that is becoming increasingly important in Germany due to climate change and the resulting longer periods of heat.  If summer heat protection is inadequate, unpleasant heat can quickly develop inside the building during the warmer months of the year, which can affect the well-being and health of the occupants and users. Indoor temperatures above 25-27° C must therefore be avoided.

To clean our wastewater from households and industry, sewage treatment plants consume a lot of energy: across Europe, they account for around 1 % of total energy production. This makes them among the largest municipal electricity consumers. For municipalities, this high electricity demand means a great financial burden. However, sewage treatment plants can be transformed from power guzzlers into electricity and heat producers, because both wastewater and sewage sludge have great energy potential.

The energy transition can only succeed in collaboration

The tasks associated with the energy and heat transition are highly complex. We can only create intelligent and effective solutions by working together. Therefore, our newly founded NETZ-WERK REGENERATIV unites planners, manufacturers and implementers. Together we realise renewable energy supply solutions for existing and new buildings, neighbourhoods and municipalities. For energy- and cost-efficient solutions in building and neighbourhood supply.

About two thirds of the final energy consumption of German industry is required for process heat. Estimates put the savings potential in the process temperature range from 60 °C at around 125,000,000,000 KWh. In order to push ahead with the energy turnaround, it therefore also makes sense to use wastewater and waste heat.

Modern heat pumps can use air, soil or water as energy sources. These sources have different temperatures. For the efficiency of a HP system, the source temperature makes a big difference. In this blog you will learn more about the impact that the choice of source makes.