immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Klimaziel

  • Kriens electricity suppliers realise heating network

    Kriens electricity suppliers realise heating network

    The two electricity suppliers to the town of Kriens, Energie Wasser Luzern(ewl) and Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke(CKW), are also becoming heating suppliers: according to a press release, the Kriens town council has decided in favour of the Kriens heating network consortium with ewl and CKW following a public tender for the construction and planning of a heating network.

    The heating network will help to supply additional properties in Kriens, namely the Obernau, centre and Kupferhammer-Kehrhof areas, with thermal energy. According to the city council, this is in line with the goals of the city’s climate strategy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from buildings by 2045.

    According to the information provided, the winning project assures Kriens a high level of territorial coverage and provides for transitional solutions that guarantee the population a high degree of planning security for the changeover in their heat supply. CKW and ewl are planning their project with a broad mix of different renewable energy sources, including regional wood. According to City Councillor Maurus Frey, this will create an attractive offer “so that together we can take a step towards our climate targets”.

    In the upcoming construction work in Hergiswaldstrasse, the renovation work is to be carried out at the same time as the pipeline construction for the heating network, if possible. The city and ARGE intend to announce further details once the legally prescribed deadlines have expired.

  • Cantons are phasing out fossil fuel heaters

    Cantons are phasing out fossil fuel heaters

    The Conference of Cantonal Energy Directors ( EnDK ) passed "a comprehensive paper on the principles of building policy 2050+" at its plenary meeting on August 26, the EnDK informs in a statement . Among other things, it stipulates that by 2030 at the latest, no more fossil fuel heating systems will be installed in Switzerland. This is the only way Switzerland can achieve its goal of emitting no net CO2 by 2050, writes the EnDK. The future cantonal energy laws must be based on this principle decided by the EnDK.

    In the new policy paper, value is also placed on electricity production on the building itself. Above all, photovoltaic systems are to be used on roofs and facades. "The building will become an energy hub that not only consumes energy for the usual applications, but also increasingly uses it for the rapidly increasing electromobility and produces and stores electricity itself," Mario Cavigelli (CVP) is quoted as saying in the statement. The Head of the Department for Infrastructure, Energy and Mobility of the Canton of Graubünden, who is leaving the Government Council at the end of the year, handed over his office as President of the EnDK to the Head of the Department of Finance and Energy of the Canton of Valais, Roberto Schmidt (CVP). .

    Canton-owned buildings should be operated exclusively with renewable energies as soon as possible. The cantons are also currently preparing for a possible supply crisis. Here, too, the cantons want to “set an example” and coordinate the development of their own energy-saving measures, writes the EnDK.

  • Holcim issues first sustainable bonds

    Holcim issues first sustainable bonds

    Holcim has issued two bonds in Swiss francs that are geared towards sustainability and put climate protection at the heart of the financing strategy. The bonds raised CHF 325 million and CHF 100 million, with maturities in 2026 and 2032 and carrying an annual interest rate of 0.35 and 0.90 percent, respectively.

    If Holcim does not achieve its climate target, investors are entitled to a higher coupon. "We are proud to be the first company to issue a sustainability-related bond on the Swiss franc market," CFO Géraldine Picaud is quoted as saying in a company statement. "The bond has attracted new ESG investors who have demonstrated their confidence in Holcim's financial strength, strategy and ability to achieve sustainability goals."

    With the current transactions, Holcim is expanding its global leadership position in this area. To date, the company has concluded around 6.7 billion in sustainable financing agreements. This current transaction represents a significant step on the way to more than 40 percent sustainable financing contracts as part of "Strategy 2025 – Accelerating Green Growth".

    This was Holcim's third transaction in the Swiss public bond market in the last ten months. They allowed the company to raise a total of 1.1 billion Swiss francs.

  • Solar power could solve Swiss energy problems

    Solar power could solve Swiss energy problems

    Only photovoltaics can show Switzerland the way to a CO2-free future, writes the Deputy Director of the Federal Materials Testing and Research Institute ( Empa ), Peter Richner, in an article for Avenir Suisse . It is based on the so-called Kaya identity, which the Japanese scientist Yoichi Kaya used in 1993 to describe the total amount of anthropogenic CO2 emissions as a function of four factors. The fourth alone, a reduction in the CO2 footprint, has enough potential, according to Richner, to achieve Switzerland's climate goals – through massive expansion of photovoltaics.

    If only 50 percent of all Swiss roofs were equipped with solar modules, electricity production from nuclear power plants would be superfluous. Richner demonstrates this in terms of electricity supply and demand for 2015. However, if all roofs and increasingly also building facades were equipped with solar panels, the output gap in winter could also be compensated for. At the same time, however, solutions would have to be found in order to be able to utilize the largest possible proportion of the electricity surplus in summer, both on a daily basis and at other times of the year.

    For increased flexibility of use, day storage systems could shift loads, for example through batteries or hydrogen. Digitization offers opportunities for the necessary creation of flexibility in consumption and production. Excess electricity could be converted into hydrogen in summer and possibly, together with CO2 from the air, into methane or liquid synthetic hydrocarbons. These chemical energy carriers can be stored easily and used in a variety of ways. And finally, seasonal heat storage systems could be charged with excess electricity in order to reduce energy requirements in winter.

    The potential of energy efficiency, another influenceable factor of the Kaya identity, is far from being exhausted, says Richner. However, achievements in this area would be compensated for by higher electricity demand, fossil electricity imports from abroad in winter or increased electricity consumption.

    In order to achieve a climate-neutral Switzerland, one of the four factors in the Kaya identity must be zero or the remaining product is offset with CO2-negative technologies such as the separation of CO2 from the air and its storage. Politicians must provide a decisive framework for this, as long as the nuclear power plants are still running.