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particular the use of environmental energy, for example, by means of solar panels or use of biomass,
and the generation of electricity by means of photovoltaics and wind turbines.
2.3.1 Darmstadt University Model Plus Energy House
In 2007 and 2009 our University of Technology in Darmstadt developed a Plus Energy house as
a part of the Future of Building research initiative from my ministry, in order to participate in
the Solar Decathlon competition in Washington. The most important objective of the model
houses, whose performance is tested in 10 disciplines, is to generate more energy than the
house can consume when it is being used at full capacity. We were lucky in 2007 and again in
2009, and Darmstadt University of Technology won this
competition in the USA.
A house with such technology can also look quite good.
Darmstadt University of Technology also received
architectural awards for its demonstration project.
The building produced by the Darmstadt University in
2009, produced twice as much energy as it could
consume under intensive use. 12 of 14 days of the
competition were cloudy and rainy. That was a crucial
reason why the team of Darmstadt University of
Technology won the competition in 2009, which was
subsequently visited also by our Federal Chancellor, Ms
Merkel, and she promised that the Federal Government
would continue to progress this issue.
The Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development, my current minister, Dr
Ramsauer, for the first time brought an electric vehicle with him to the inauguration of this
house in Essen, Germany. It was a Daimler Smart electric vehicle, which consumes about 0.14
kilowatt-hours per kilometre. Thus, using the surplus energy produced by the Plus Energy
house in Essen, it would theoretically be possible for the vehicle to operate for almost 8,000
km a year.
2.3.2 Plus Energy House with Electric Mobility
With this objective in mind, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building, and Urban
Development organized an inter-disciplinary competition for the construction of a Plus Energy
house with electric mobility in the summer of 2010. The competition was conceived as an
open and interdisciplinary competition for higher education institutions in co-operation with
planning offices. The task was to demonstrate that a building with a Plus Energy standard is
capable of supplying its occupants, as well as several vehicles, with an average annual mileage
of about 30,000 km in the annual balance using only environmental energy. Here the electric
storage capacity installed in the building or in the vehicles play a central role. It serves as a
buffer for the supply of electricity to the house and vehicles and, in connection with a smart
grid, can perform storage functions.
I would like to show very quickly the winners of the competition; the first, second and third
prize, just to illustrate that Plus Energy houses can enrich the townscape and provide
attractive family architecture. All the designs submitted could have been implemented. This
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