dena's pilot project „Efficient Homes“. - Zukunft Haus

Energy Efficiency in Buildings.
dena’s pilot project
„Efficient Homes“.
Great savings potential in the refurbishment of
existing buildings.
Existing buildings currently require on average three
times as much energy for heating as new buildings.
However, despite rising energy prices, full advantage
is not being taken of the potential which exists for
saving energy when refurbishments are carried out.
That‘s why, in 2003, the Deutsche Energie-Agentur
GmbH (dena) - the German Energy Agency - initiated
the pilot project ”Efficient Homes” As part of the
project, over 140 buildings have so far been refurbished
for high energy efficiency (in some cases highly
innovative passive house components were used) and
now reach an energy requirement as much as 50 percent
lower than the level required in new buildings.
This means that the model project has successfully
passed its field test, and that dena has sent out a signal
for the future: since 2007, dena‘s energy standard that
re-quires the energy consumption of the refurbished
building to be 30 percent less than that of a comparable
new building has become a fixed component of the
CO 2 Building Rehabilitation Programme of the Federal
Promotional Bank (KfW Förderbank).
The refurbishment projects from dena—as examples
of best practice along with transferable, economically
viable recommendations for refurbishment—provide
an incentive for others to follow suit. The accompanying
public relations work and distribution of information
speeds up the transfer of expertise as well as the
market introduction of innovative technologies for
energy-efficient building refurbishment.
Housing companies, architects, professional planners
and energy consultants can make use of the experience
gained through the model project to reach a
higher level of energy efficiency in future refurbishment
projects.

dena’s pilot project „Efficient Homes“.
When existing buildings are refurbished, more than half
of the energy-saving potential which is already affordable
today is not taken advantage of. dena‘s aim in its
model project „Efficient Homes“ is therefore to define
and try out standards which are both ambitious in terms
of energy and easy to implement, and in the long term to
introduce them to a wide market.
Up to now, 143 buildings have been refurbished as “low
energy buildings“. On average, they cut energy use by
around 50 percent of the level required by the EnEV for
comparable new buildings. In total, the project encompasses
more than 2,230 residential units over an area of
more than 138,000 m 2 . Approximately 49 percent of the
buildings belong to the housing industry, 24 percent
are owned by private tenants, and 27 percent belong to
single-family or two-family house owners.
The entire construction phase is supported and evaluated
scientifically. It has already been proven that the energy
requirement can be cut by an average of 80 percent
through energy-saving design; and dena‘s standards
show that energy-efficient refurbishments are not only
technically feasible but also make sense in economic
terms.
Energy-saving construction and refurbishment and
sustainable utilisation concepts are essential elements
for ensuring the value and attractiveness of homes and
property in the long term, increasing independence
from energy price hikes, and contributing towards
climate protection.
Goals.
The goals are, by means of best-practice projects:
– to speed up the transfer of expertise,
– to spread knowledge of innovative technologies for
energy refurbishment, to develop these further an to
introduce them into the market and
– by way of transferable, economically-viable refurbishment
recommendations, to encourage to follow suit.
Regional networks.
In order to reinforce the domino effect of energy-efficient
building refurbishment, dena has set up a successful
network of existing regional centres of expertise.
Press and public relation.
Another focus of the model project is press and public
relations work and the distribution of information:
– Establishing the „dena regional dialogue“ series of
events (30 events since 2005 with an average of 150
participants)
– “1 st day of the open low-energy house“ for nationwide
information on 16/06/2007
– Articles and television reports
– Website with a knowledge database, expert information
on energy-efficient refurbishment, and presentation
of the refurbishment projects:
www.zukunft-haus.info
– interactive CD all about energy-efficient refurbishment
especially for the constructors of single-family
houses and smaller apartment buildings.
– Information leaflets for specialists and end users.
Achievements and future prospects.
Due to its resounding success, the dena model project
with the standard that requires the energy consumption
of the refurbished building to be 50 percent less than that
of a comparable new building is being continued in 2007
as an official component of the CO 2 Building Rehabilitation
Programme of the promotional bank (KfW Förderbank).
Also in 2007, a similar model project is being
started for non-residential buildings: “Efficient Schools”.
Partners.
The dena pilot project is supported by the German
Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs
(BMVBS), by BASF AG, and by the National Association of
the German Energy and Water Industry (bdew).
Efficiency decides.
For further information, please contact:
Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena)
German Energy Agency
Nicole Pillen
Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Chausseestrasse 128a, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)30 72 61 65 - 669
Fax: +49 (0)30 72 61 65 - 699
E-mail: pillen@dena.de
Internet: www.zukunft-haus.info 11/2007