Tag: Gebäuden

Dormakaba supplies Hörmann with CO2-neutral products

The companies dormakaba in Rümlang and Hörmann in Steinhagen, Germany, have agreed to cooperate in the area of sustainability. According to a media release, Hörmann will purchase CO2-neutral products from dormakaba Germany from 1 June 2023. This measure is an important step in the climate protection commitment of the door and gate manufacturer Hörmann, it continues.

The company Hörmann wants to strengthen its climate protection commitment, it says in the press release. The company is aware that emissions in the upstream or downstream supply chain are the most difficult to influence. However, this area, known as Scope 3, accounts for the largest share of all emissions. For this reason, Hörmann also wants to include suppliers and partners in its climate protection commitment. In dormakaba, Hörmann has found a partner who is considered a pioneer in sustainability in the industry.

“With this step, we at dormakaba are sending a clear signal of how important the topic of sustainability is to us and are taking responsibility as a company,” Michael Hensel, Managing Director of dormakaba Deutschland GmbH in Ennepetal, is quoted as saying.

“Our long-standing partner dormakaba is already known as a pioneer in the industry in the field of sustainability and climate protection,” Martin J. Hörmann, personally liable partner of the Hörmann Group, is quoted as saying. “Its achievements there have been recognised by leading bodies. We are therefore pleased that dormakaba will be supplying all products with an environmental product declaration in a CO2-neutral manner from 01.06.2023.”

May 2023
City of Lucerne wants to heat entirely with renewables

The Lucerne City Council is requesting a special credit of 5.05 million Swiss francs from the City Council for the conversion of the heating supply to 100 per cent renewable energy. In addition, a supplementary credit of 194,000 francs was requested for the 2023 budget. According to a press release, this is to finance the increase in staffing in the real estate department that is needed until 2034.

Additional staff percentages had become necessary because the voters of Lucerne had approved the city’s climate and energy strategy in September 2022. It stipulates that the city’s own buildings and facilities of the administrative assets, such as schools and administrative buildings, must be supplied with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

Thanks to the increase in personnel in the real estate department, the conversion to renewable heat supply should be implemented by 2035 and the upcoming renovations of the properties in the financial assets can be managed. This is planned for a total of 39 properties.

With the conversion of the properties of the financial assets to 100 per cent renewable energy, the city council wants to set a good example for its own properties, according to the statement. The city will help with any interim solutions for tenants.

March 2023
Viboo wins Empa Innovation Award

Every two years since 2006, Empa has honored in-house innovations or successful technology transfers from science to industry with the Empa Innovation Award. This year, the CHF 5,000 prize went to the Empa spin-off viboo , the research institute said in a statement . The young company based in Dübendorf has developed a self-learning algorithm that uses weather and building data to calculate the optimum energy use of a building several hours in advance.

The algorithm developed by Felix Bünning and Benjamin Huber together with Empa Senior Researcher Matthias Sulzer in Empa's Urban Energy System Lab has already been tested in pilot tests in the NEST innovation building and in an Empa administration building. It has been shown that the approach can save around a quarter of the heating energy, according to the statement.

For the application, only the analogue thermostats have to be replaced by intelligent thermostats. Here, viboo is already working with Danfoss and wants to get other manufacturers of such thermostats, such as ABB and Schneider Electric , on board for further pilot projects. Huber wants to reciprocate the award with a contribution that “empa will get through the coming heating period well”, the viboo co-founder is quoted as saying in the press release.

October 2022
Carrier invests in Archilogic

Carrier has invested in three start-ups through its newly created venture capital fund. According to a media release , one of these is a Swiss company, Archilogic .

The spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ( ETH ) convinced Carrier with their specially developed software. With this, the floor plans of buildings can be converted into 3D models. For example, users can see how a floor plan affects the visual reference, incidence of light or noise pollution. This makes it easy to compare different floor plans.

Carrier also wants to integrate the Zurich development into its own digital cloud platform. This should enable users to visualize buildings better, which should ultimately enable the planning of “healthier and more efficient rooms”.

Carrier has launched its venture capital fund, Carrier Venture 2022. The company, based in Palm Beach Gardens in the US state of Florida, wants to promote sustainable innovations in the building sector.

October 2022
Bern has the most climate-friendly building stock

Navitas Consilium has developed an interactive tool to show the share of renewable or imported energy in the building stocks of each municipality in Switzerland, the Martigny-based energy and climate consultancy informs in a press release . The amount of greenhouse gases generated by the building stocks can also be called up using the tool. With its development, Navitas Consilium wants to help determine the need for decarbonization of building stocks for the implementation of the Swiss climate strategy.

An interactive map can be used to show that the most densely populated areas of the country use a low proportion of renewable energy compared to rural areas. With a share of 28 percent, Lausanne is still the best of the ten major cities. For Switzerland as a whole, the values vary between 2 and 84 percent.

At almost 40 percent, heating and hot water in buildings account for a very high proportion of total energy consumption. For the implementation of the climate strategy, Navitas Consilium therefore considers a reduction in energy consumption in combination with the use of low-emission renewable energies to be essential.

The city of Bern is currently one step ahead when it comes to the climate-friendliness of its building stock. With 23 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per square meter per year, Bern has the lowest emissions of the ten largest cities in Switzerland. Zurich and Basel follow, each with 24 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per square meter. In general, cities with less than 10 percent energy from renewable sources have comparatively high emissions of greenhouse gases.

September 2022
Creating livable buildings of the future with foresighted planning

Was ist eigentlich ein „lebenswertes Gebäude“? Früher waren Häuser einfache Gebäude, in denen Menschen vor allem geschlafen und gegessen haben. Heute muss ein Gebäude mehr können: „Wir wollen uns darin wohlfühlen, zur Ruhe kommen, ohne Barrieren fortbewegen und am besten nachhaltig leben. Es schafft nicht nur einen Raum, sondern muss zu den Nutzern und deren Bedürfnissen passen – und zwar heute und in Zukunft. Erst dann sprechen wir von einem lebenswerten Gebäude“, erläutert Sören Eilers.

Gebäude werden in der Gegenwart für die Zukunft errichtet
Dabei haben sich die Anforderungen allein in den vergangenen 15 Jahren stark gewandelt: Die Denkweise der Menschen hat sich verändert, zudem herrschen regionale Unterschiede, wenn es um die Frage geht, was ein zeitgemäßes Gebäude ausmacht. Werden mancherorts nur noch Passivhäuser errichtet, so liegt der Fokus andernorts beispielsweise auf freien Lernkonzepten und offenen Räumen. Für Planer und Architekten bedeutet das, dass sie weit vorausdenken müssen. „Gebäude werden in der Gegenwart für die Zukunft gebaut, für die nächsten 30 bis 50 Jahre Nutzungszeit“, erklärt Marco Sperling. „Wir müssen in unserer heutigen Planung also bereits die Nutzungsmöglichkeiten für in ein paar Jahrzehnten bedenken. Dabei ist jedoch fast immer das Budget der limitierende Faktor.“

Damit nicht genug. Neben den vom Auftraggeber gesteckten Rahmenbedingungen gibt es diverse gesetzliche Anforderungen, Normen und Verordnungen, die einzuhalten sind. Dabei sind sich die unterschiedlichen Regelwerke längst nicht immer einig. „Es gibt in Deutschland fast nichts, das nicht geregelt ist. Die Rahmenbedingungen der Auftraggeber sind oft verhandelbar, bei gesetzlichen Vorgaben ist das weitaus schwieriger“, weiß Sperling aus Erfahrung. Damit am Ende alle Wünsche, Bedürfnisse, Anforderungen und Vorschriften unter einen Hut gebracht werden können, ist eine intensive Abstimmung mit allen Beteiligten unerlässlich: „Der Abstimmungsbedarf wächst ständig und ist sogar in Zertifizierungsprozessen verankert. Das ist auch durchaus sinnvoll, damit es am Ende ein gutes Gebäude wird. Es gilt in jedem Fall: Je besser die Abstimmung von Beginn an, desto besser das Ergebnis!“ So werden im Idealfall alle fachbeteiligten Planer für Haustechnik, Statik, Tragwerk etc., die Verarbeiter, aber auch Nutzer und Auftraggeber sowie deren Interessensvertreter eingebunden.

August 2022
Graubünden gets a new tourist center in Sedrun

Andermatt Swiss Alps AG intends to invest on the Graubünden side of the Oberalp Pass for the first time: in a unique location at the end of the valley in Sedrun/Dieni, 13 buildings with 410 hotel rooms are to be built on the site of today’s car park opposite the Dieni valley station of the Andermatt-Sedrun SkiArena by 2027 develop. Of these, 204 hostel and 206 double and triple rooms are planned. 119 additional residential units are for sale and are managed for tourism. The units vary in size from the studio to the 5.5 room apartment. Resort Dieni Development AG, which is owned by Andermatt Swiss Alps AG (ASA), has submitted a planning application for this.
"The Dieni resort is a pioneering project that sets new standards in the region and in the canton of Graubünden," says Raphael Krucker, CEO of Andermatt Swiss Alps AG. A total of 1,800 beds are planned – as well as 478 parking spaces, 150 of which are available for guests of the SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun. The resort also includes three restaurants, two bars, various retail areas and leisure facilities such as spa, bowling, bouldering, cinema, fitness and gaming. "Andermatt Swiss Alps AG is investing CHF 170 million in this," continues Raphael Krucker. The number of hotel beds in Surselva has increased by over 20 percent.
With the Resort Dieni, the tourist offer in Sedrun is supplemented in the direction of inexpensive apartments and hotel rooms geared towards families/groups. The resort is designed for young families and groups. With ski-in/ski-out and the alpine experience on the mountain in Dieni/Sedrun, a new tourist center is being created in the canton of Graubünden. Mayor Martin Cavegn: “This major project is a milestone for the community of Tujetsch and the whole of Surselva. In order to be able to keep up with the competition, new hotels and managed holiday apartments are needed.»
The new part of the village will be embedded in a spacious landscape with a view down the valley and into the mountains. The location directly on the year-round train connection Chur-Andermatt and the most modern and largest ski area in the Gotthard area as well as the year-round accessibility by road make the location unique. In addition, the municipality is creating a bus connection between Sedrun and Dieni.
For the Dieni resort, the aim is to build and operate as sustainably as possible. This includes the choice of sustainable materials, but also state-of-the-art operation. The resort is CO 2 neutrally heated by a wood pellet heater; 50 percent of the roof area will be equipped with 1,500 m2 of photovoltaics. The developer is Resort Dieni Development AG (RDD) owned by Andermatt Swiss Alps AG (ASA), and the operator is also ASA or its partner company from the Orascom Group, Orascom Hotel Management. A third party as a joint venture partner is conceivable.
Andermatt Swiss Alps AG will invest around CHF 350 million in its core business of real estate and tourism infrastructure over the next few years in order to implement the vision of "The Prime Alpine Destination". In addition, 149 million Swiss francs will be spent from the partnership with Vail Resorts, Inc. With their many years of experience in developing ski areas, the guest experience on the mountain is improved with new lifts, additional snowmaking and new restaurants.

August 2022