immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Netto-Null-Ziel

  • Schlieren to shut down gas network from 2030

    Schlieren to shut down gas network from 2030

    The city of Schlieren aims to emit no net greenhouse gases by 2040. To achieve this, the heating of buildings must also be converted to climate-neutral sources. The city has therefore decided to shut down the gas network in stages.

    According to a press release, two smaller areas north of Bernstrasse and in the south of the city are to be taken off the grid as early as 2030. Further areas on Bernstrasse and Zürcherstrasse and Badenerstrasse will follow around 2035. Around 2040, the remaining parts of the gas network will be largely decommissioned.

    Owners who currently use gas heating systems or gas stoves will be informed directly by the city. They will also be offered advice on alternatives. Industrial customers can continue to use the gas infrastructure for process gas.

    The city is planning an information event on the decommissioning of the gas network on April 2.

  • “Best of Research 2024” goes to Lisa Pantenburg

    “Best of Research 2024” goes to Lisa Pantenburg

    The “Best of Research 2024” award from the Swiss Real Estate Institute is considered one of the most important awards in the field of property research. Lisa Pantenburg impressed the jury with her thesis on the decarbonisation of the Swiss building stock. The award ceremony took place as part of the Swiss Real Estate Institute’s symposium at the HWZ in Zurich, where the best scientific papers of the year were presented.

    Focus on climate targets and building refurbishment
    The award-winning work analyses the challenges and opportunities associated with the decarbonisation of the building stock. The aim is to show ways in which Switzerland can achieve the net-zero target by 2050. The focus is on owners of owner-occupied single-family homes and rented apartment buildings, who must be specifically motivated to implement energy-efficient renovations.

    Example project as a pioneer of the energy transition
    A single-family home in Zurich, which has been modernised with comprehensive energy measures, provides an illustrative example of the possibilities of building refurbishment. By installing a heat pump and a photovoltaic system as well as improving the building envelope, annual energy savings of over 30% were achieved. This project illustrates the potential of sustainable refurbishments, which make a significant contribution to achieving climate targets.

    Research for a sustainable future
    Lisa Pantenburg’s work not only provides theoretical findings, but also practical recommendations for action. She sheds light on the social, legal and economic aspects that are necessary to increase the renovation rate in Switzerland. These results show how research can make an important contribution to the sustainable development of the property sector.

    Lisa Pantenburg’s award emphasises the importance of excellent scientific work and highlights how innovative thinking can overcome the challenges of the energy transition.

  • Leading by example: circular building in the city of Zurich

    Leading by example: circular building in the city of Zurich

    The circular economy is an important lever for achieving the political net-zero targets. Like many other cities around the world, Zurich is also committed to the circular economy: in 2022, a strategy for the circular economy was adopted with “Circular Zurich”. in 2023, Zurich became the first Swiss city to sign the “Circular Cities Declaration”.

    The intelligent use of resources is particularly important in construction. With the “Charter for Circular Construction”, politicians and businesses set an example in 2023 and made a joint commitment to conserving primary resources and landfill space and reducing CO2 emissions from their own construction activities.

    Initial findings from two pilot projects
    But how do the political commitments affect specific construction projects? What challenges does circular construction pose? And how are the planning and construction processes changing? The City of Zurich’s Office for Buildings is gaining answers to these questions through two pilot projects.

    The city gained initial experience with the procurement, storage and processing of reused building components during the renovation of the Mööslistrasse 2023 kindergarten (Bischof Föhn Architekten, Zurich). Washbasins and toilets were dismantled, cleaned and refurbished on site. Plant troughs from the balconies were reused as outdoor space boundaries. Where possible, the built-in furniture was sourced from the city’s own stock. Thanks to component screening, steel beams, wooden pergolas, fire doors and kitchen elements from other buildings were identified, dismantled and reinstalled. So-called “component hunters” were deployed for everything that was not found in the city’s used parts warehouse.

    The second pilot project, the new “Juch-Areal” recycling centre, is much more comprehensive. The Office for Buildings launched an architectural competition with re-use requirements for the project in 2022. The competition participants were able to use a digital catalogue of components or use other available components from non-urban sources for their designs. The buildings also had to be designed in such a way that they could later be used as a component mine themselves (design for disassembly).

    The projects submitted show that it is possible: Yes, it is possible. The jury was particularly impressed by the high quality of the competition entries, which were created despite – or perhaps thanks to – the new specifications. The building material of the winning project by Graber Pulver Architekten AG (Zurich) dismantles the hall of the previous recycling centre and rebuilds it at the new location with only minor adjustments. Disposed books, magazines and clothes are used as insulation material. Sheets of recycled glass and aluminium, old kitchen covers, doors and table tops protect the façade from the weather. Discarded scaffolding is turned into storage shelves.

    It is in the nature of things that pilot projects precede a standardised introduction on a broad scale. This is also the case with circular construction. The realisation of the two projects in Zurich shows that many questions still need to be clarified: How can components be catalogued? How can availability be checked? Where will they be stored? Who assumes legal liability?

    The planning and construction processes will change as a result of cycle-orientated construction, because the component mines must be known as early as possible, preferably at the beginning of the planning phase. Building Information Modelling (BIM) facilitates the reuse of components, the planning of their dismantlability and the development of future component mines.

    Significant savings in indirect greenhouse gas emissions in the pilot projects
    The pilot projects show that this approach is worthwhile. According to a subsequent calculation, the consistent reuse of building components saved a good 30% of greenhouse gas emissions during the renovation of the Mööslistrasse kindergarten. Current calculations even predict a 40% saving in greenhouse gas emissions for the Juch-Areal recycling centre compared to a conventional new building.

  • City council plans reorganisation of heat supply

    City council plans reorganisation of heat supply

    So far, there are three municipal providers of heating networks on city territory: Elektrizitätswerk ewz, Entsorgung + Recycling Zürich (ERZ) and Energie 360° AG. All large-scale heating networks are now to be united under the umbrella of ewz. Through their joint efforts to achieve the city’s net zero targets, the three providers of district heating networks have intensified their cooperation in recent years. Then, about two years ago, the city council formalised this cooperation by establishing the Wärme Zürich office. Since then, Wärme Zürich has been coordinating the expansion of the networks of the three providers. Currently, it is being examined whether the existing heating networks can also be physically connected to each other, so that an overall network is gradually created on city territory, which further increases the security of supply. The planned reorganisation takes these changes into account and represents the next integration stage in the area of heat supply.

    Implementation plan in progress
    A project headed by City Council members Michael Baumer (Head of the Department of Industrial Operations), Simone Brander (Head of the Department of Civil Engineering and Waste Disposal) and Andreas Hauri (Head of the Department of Health and Environment) will show in an implementation plan by the end of the year how and in what timeframe such a reorganisation can take place. The consultation with the staff associations will also take place during this period.

    Integration of ERZ’s district heating activities
    ERZ’s district heating activities will be integrated into ewz. The implementation plan will show how the integration of the district heating activities is to be structured and how and when the employees concerned are to transfer from ERZ to ewz. The experts from ERZ will play a decisive role in shaping the new organisation with their knowledge and many years of experience in the heating sector.

    New prospects for Energie 360°
    Energie 360° will also transfer part of its heating networks in the city of Zurich to ewz, with the employees remaining with Energie 360°. Ownership and operation of the gas grid and all other activities will remain with Energie 360°. Energie 360° is a joint-stock company owned by the public sector. The main owner is the city of Zurich. The company’s strategy of driving forward the transformation throughout Switzerland and supplying exclusively renewable energy by 2040 will be maintained. As the focus of Energie 360°’s activities will shift even more to activities outside the city in the future, the city council wants to offer the company new perspectives and open up the field for cooperation. In order to gain more freedom of action, the city council’s authority to sell shares in this company is to be extended.

  • InfraWatt wants mandatory climate-neutral infrastructure

    InfraWatt wants mandatory climate-neutral infrastructure

    InfraWatt demands that climate neutrality of infrastructure facilities and their fair financing be made mandatory as well as the achievement of the net zero target. This, it says, will make fee financing possible. “Infrastructure facilities want to make an active contribution within the framework of the net-zero strategy by avoiding climate-relevant emissions and also offering further reduction services,” writes the association for energy use from wastewater, waste, waste heat and drinking water in a position paper.

    However, many measures are not implemented “because they are not yet part of the core task”. Therefore, the position paper should “outline the principles so that these potentials can be used”. In order to further promote greenhouse gas neutrality, the InfraWatt board has founded the decarbonisation working group.

    The association formulates three goals for infrastructure plants: First, they must avoid direct emissions of climate-impacting gases and substances, and second, they must exploit their potential to substitute fossil fuels. Thirdly, “point sources from infrastructure facilities” would have to be used for CO2 removal and offered as a service for negative emissions.

    According to the concept, the additional costs for a climate-neutral operation of the facilities should be covered by fees and the expenses for substitution services and negative emissions should be provided as a service. It must be clearly regulated what is to be financed by fees and what the end customers are to pay. Other options, such as the polluter-pays principle, should apply to negative emissions.

  • The federal government is also aiming for net zero for soil protection

    The federal government is also aiming for net zero for soil protection

    With its Soil Strategy Switzerland, the Federal Council wants to counteract further soil loss through soil activity, erosion or pollutants. The main concern is that no more land is lost net in Switzerland by 2050. The booklet just published by the Federal Office for Spatial Development in the series “ Forum Spatial Development ” with the title “Dealing with the soil sustainably – the responsibility of spatial development” shows how it can be possible to preserve the soil in the long term.

    It is no coincidence that this goes hand in hand with the also declared net zero target for CO2 emissions, according to Damian Jerjen, Director of the Association for Spatial Planning EspaceSuisse, in a press release by the Federal Office for Spatial Development: "Spatial planning is responsible for its instruments to use for climate protection and thus also to protect the soil. ”Because, on the one hand, these must make a maximum contribution to climate protection. On the other hand, they would help to adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change.

    In the booklet, Adèle Thorens Goumaz, Councilor of States (Greens / VD) and biodiversity expert, calls for greater specialist knowledge of soil quality to be developed. The decentralized decision-making structure represents an obstacle to sustainable soil management. In an interview, she suggests that we first come to an agreement on the agriculture of the future. "Only then should we start working on spatial planning, not the other way around."

    A report also included in the booklet describes the renaturation work after the construction work on the Ceneri Base Tunnel has been completed. There, enormous masses of earth are returned to their original parcel. They are built into fertile soil and can be used for growing vegetables after a few years.

    The booklet can be ordered in writing and for a fee from the Bern Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics . It is also available online and free of charge with audio contributions and photo series.