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Energy Crisis: On the Go with an Energy Advisor

2022-05-18T07:26:52.701Z


Exploding prices, an impending oil embargo against Russia - energy consultant Jan Asbahr is fully booked for weeks. Everyone wants to know from him: Where can energy be saved?


AreaRead the video transcript expand here

You have to wait a long time for his visit: Jan Asbahr is an energy consultant and is constantly on the go.

Today he is visiting a customer who wants to make his house more energy-efficient.

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»

Moin, Moin.

«

Ralph Hohenschurz-Schmidt, owner

"

Greetings, Herr Asbahr."

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

“Yes, increasing.

More inquiries every day, more advice needed every day.

The political situation and energy prices are forcing us to do something.«

The homeowner wants to get rid of his old gas heater.

In order to be able to give reasonable advice, Asbahr first has to get an overview.

How many rooms are there, where is there underfloor heating, how well are the load-bearing walls insulated.

Then it goes into the basement, to the heart of the house: the heating.

Ralph Hohenschurz-Schmidt, owner

"My wife built this up."

Owner Hohenschurz-Schmidt wants a more environmentally friendly alternative to his gas heating system from 2001: a system that uses geothermal energy from the local soil instead of Russian gas.

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»

After the replacement, there will be highly efficient pumps here.

In any case, we have a big saving if they run at level one with 25 watts of power.«

Ralph Hohenschurz-Schmidt, owner

»

I also turned them down so that they don’t need so much electricity and that was absolutely sufficient.«

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»

Exactly.

It's always a good tip to turn the pump down one level, if you can regulate it, to then see whether it's still sufficient to supply the radiators and the underfloor heating with enough heat.

Then insulate heating pipes, all pipes carrying hot water in the boiler room and in unheated areas in order to minimize heat loss here as well.”

Ralph Hohenschurz-Schmidt, owner

"Yes, we have."

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

"But that actually looks pretty complete too."

Ralph Hohenschurz Schmidt, homeowner

»

When you can say that you are definitely not dependent on any gas supplies in winter, that is really a very, very good feeling.

But we initiated the topic long before the Ukraine crisis, but Mr. Asbahr was so busy that I think it took us almost four months since we made the appointment for today's appointment.

In other words, when this date was rescheduled, no one was even thinking about Ukraine.«

Even before the war in Ukraine, energy prices rose enormously.

The situation has worsened in recent weeks.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, imported energy is more than twice as expensive as a year ago.

Domestically generated energy costs 68 percent more.

And so a test drilling is to be carried out in the garden of the owner Hohenschurz-Schmidt to see whether geothermal energy in Alt-Duvenstedt in Schleswig-Holstein can be an alternative to Russian gas.

The conditions are good.

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

"Of course we have a wonderfully beautiful area here, which also has good access to the street for the device, so that you can of course drill a geothermal borehole in this area to insert the probe."

Ralph Hohenschurz-Schmidt, owner

»Otherwise, for the location of the air-to-water heat pump, that would of course be ideal, since the boiler room is there.

But my wife doesn't want it there at all.

But I can also understand that it wouldn't be such a nice calling card when you walk in there and there's a box like that.«

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

"Although it's already available in pretty."

Ralph Hohenschurz-Schmidt

"You could paint them, yes, that's true."

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»We don't just have a little bit of the visual, the visual impairment, maybe also a little noise pollution when the system is running and the compressor can really be heard.

«

The new heat pump will probably not be available for the next heating period, because at the moment there are enormous material bottlenecks as a result of the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war: delivery times of 30 to 50 weeks for a heat pump are currently normal.

The 160 square meter house, built in 1980, already has a photovoltaic system on the roof.

The energy consultant also takes a very close look at them.

Such a system does not make sense everywhere.

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»

Every shading from trees, chimneys, neighboring buildings affects the investment amount, so that we pay attention to where we can install the whole thing when we are designing, what makes sense and what doesn't make sense.

Like behind the chimney, for example, that doesn't make sense.«

Where can you save?

Jan Asbahr should also answer this question during his second home visit today.

After a long search, a young couple bought a house in Büdelsdorf, Schleswig-Holstein.

The keys were only handed over a few days ago, the new owners want to move in in two weeks.

They asked Jan Asbahr to see what they could do to reduce energy costs in the future.

Here, too, we first go to the basement.

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»Huck your head in!«

Kathrin Bork, owner

"It's still fine for my size."

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»If you have a reasonable basement ceiling, a good measure is to insulate the basement ceiling from below, about 6 to 8 centimeters.

That's not possible in this case.«

Then it goes into the boiler room.

»

The oil heater.

I agree.

«

The old oil heating no longer corresponds to the current state of the art, both in terms of energy consumption and pollutant emissions.

Kathrin Bork, owner

»Once we looked at the price development.

The prices are currently going through the roof.

On the other hand, of course, there is also the aspect that we naturally want to do something for the climate and energy.«

So the oil heater should go.

Now you have to consider which type of heating makes sense for the house.

But: A conversion costs a lot of money.

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»

All of this is also eligible and included in the eligible costs.

Just as an example, if you now go for a pure heat pump, then you get 45 percent of the costs and these total costs subsidized by the state.«

In addition to the old oil heating, the house from 1954 has another energy problem, the roof.

If the owners want to save energy in the future, then a refurbishment is urgently needed.

The energy consultant is to check today how complex this will be.

Is new insulation enough or does the entire roof have to be replaced at the same time?

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

'We have mortar lined pans, I assume we have some leaks.

You can see water stains on the floor here.

I probably wouldn't wait that long to replace the roof."

Since warm air always rises, most of the heat is lost through the roof.

However, if only the roof is insulated, the thermal energy will find another way, for example through the walls.

Jan Asbahr, energy consultant

»So we should start by renovating the building shell from an energy point of view first, in order to reduce the building’s heat requirements, and then afterwards design the heating system according to needs.«

Energy consultant Asbahr estimates the costs for a complete roof renovation alone at 60,000 to 80,000 euros.

There are also costs for the insulation of the outer walls and a new heating system.

The longer the new owners wait, the more expensive it will be for them, because the currently high energy prices will probably continue to rise in the coming months.

Bad prospects for consumers.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-05-18

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