Reducing consumption in schools, sports halls and town halls to protect the budget and the climate: Last Friday, Stadtwerke Gießen informed municipal environmental and energy consultants as well as employees from building departments about how this works.
Energy efficiency and climate protection play a key role in around 76 per cent of local authorities in Germany. Almost all cities and municipalities therefore want to focus more strongly on these issues in future - also and above all to reduce expenditure on electricity and natural gas. This was the result of a recent Forsa survey commissioned by the German Energy Agency (dena). The biggest obstacles to realising this goal are a lack of specialist staff, empty budgets and a lack of expert knowledge. This is precisely where the Municipal Environmental Meeting organised by Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) comes in. For many years, SWG has been bringing employees of the local municipalities up to date on the topics of the energy transition and the energy market. On Friday 29 November, the event took place for the 15th time - as in previous years in the SWG main building in Lahnstraße. Twelve municipal environmental consultants, energy officers and employees from building departments learnt first-hand how electricity and natural gas consumption can be reduced in schools, sports halls and official buildings.
Partner to the municipalities
"Local authorities have a whole range of different instruments and modernisation options at their disposal if they want to save energy. However, especially when budgets are tight, the question arises: 'What is the quickest way to increase efficiency and which investment is worthwhile?" emphasised Michael Rösner, Head of Sales for Private and Commercial Customers at SWG. For him, one thing is clear: "As a regionally rooted energy company with a wide range of services and expertise, we are one of the first points of contact and partners to help find an answer." And Stadtwerke knows the right experts in the energy sector. For example, graduate engineer Mario Lichy, Managing Director of BIENERGY - Gesellschaft für Energiemanagement mbH.
Achieving a lot with simple means
The expert showed that replacing an outdated oil heating system with a highly efficient natural gas condensing boiler, for example, can pay for itself within a short space of time. However, he also pointed out that cities and municipalities do not always have to spend a lot of money to reduce electricity and natural gas consumption. Raising employee awareness and changing user behaviour often lead to astonishing successes. It is always important not to renovate without a plan, but to get a comprehensive picture of the current situation - for example, by means of energy monitoring, which monitors meter readings and consumption over a longer period of time. Analysing the figures may then reveal that a ventilation or air conditioning system is running unnecessarily at night. A lot can be achieved with simple and inexpensive means.