The city of Schongau is examining where it can save energy

Created: 02/10/2022, 16:00

By: Elke Robert

The monument to Emperor Friedrich II on Mayor Pröbstl Platz below the Maxtor was illuminated until mid-August, and the spotlights were switched off together with the city wall lighting.

City council decides next week © Fuhrmann

The city must and wants to save more.

The management now made a few suggestions as to which wheels could still be turned - from the room temperature to the Christmas lights.

A consultation and inspection should take place promptly.

Concrete decisions are still pending.

Schongau

– The city wall and monument lighting was the first visible savings measure that the city initiated.

Switching off in mid-August turned out to be more difficult than expected, but at least 12,000 euros can be saved for the 42 radiators.

It was important for city master builder Sebastian Dietrich to emphasize in the most recent city council meeting that this was a temporary measure.

As reported several times, the path lighting of the city wall is being renewed.

Markus Keller (Greens) suggested making sure that the new system has flexible control so that it can react more quickly in the future.

Street lighting comes off quite well in Schongau when it comes to an overview of potential savings.

Dietrich had very detailed figures with him: 1,820 of the current 1,884 lights have LED technology, which is 96 percent.

1,718 lights are dimmed to up to 50 percent of their output every night.

The Lechwerke rate the Schongau system as "highly efficient renovated" that "can hardly be improved significantly".

On the other hand, Dietrich does not recommend the partial shutdown of street lighting discussed in the city council in July, for example every second lamp.

"That would be immensely time-consuming." In addition, the Lechwerke would then no longer assume any warranty, and the accident insurance may not pay.

"EnSiMaV" regulates quite a few things

Dietrich's remarks on the "Short-Term Energy Supply Securing Measures Ordinance", or "EnSiMaV" for short, caused laughter just because of the tongue-twisting name.

As far as the city is concerned and what it has to implement: common areas may no longer be heated, the room temperature when working sedentarily may not exceed 19 degrees, instantaneous water heaters in public buildings (without apartments) will be taken out of operation.

The "EnSiMaV" in turn prescribes what the city has to implement in the medium term, such as checking and optimizing heating systems.

At the beginning of September, the German Association of Cities published a list of suggestions for saving energy.

Various changes can be made, especially in the municipal Bad Plantsch.

Dietrich pointed out that the revision is still ongoing anyway.

Potential for indoor and outdoor lighting

Dietrich called the City Council's proposal to reset the air conditioning systems to the "normal state before the pandemic" as "a double-edged sword".

"You would have to look at that critically again."

However, Dietrich still sees savings potential in the interior and exterior lighting of buildings, not everywhere has already been converted to LED, "there are still one or two gaps, the caretakers will check that again".

Some of the lights in sports halls and gyms should also go out and the room temperatures should be lowered to 17 degrees.

The ice rinks are also on the city day's energy-saving list.

Suggested operating times are only from November to March.

"We have to talk about that again," said Dietrich.

The topic could soon come up.

At least the city council will decide next Tuesday, October 4th, on setting a subsidy upper limit to TSV Schongau for energy costs.

Hot topic Christmas lights

Last but not least, savings should be made at events in public spaces.

The city master builder explained that Christmas markets and light festivals would not be banned, but organizers should be required to save 20 percent of their energy.

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You also have to look at the Christmas lights, "a very emotional topic, as you saw in the neighboring community," says Dietrich.

For Schongau, too, the savings potential for Christmas tree lighting is rather low at 100 euros per season, "we're not going to save the world with that".

The installation of the Christmas tree is therefore planned.

The operation of the Christmas lights is also not expensive, only the hanging causes high costs (16,000 to 18,000 euros).

On October 4, the city council will also decide whether a compromise can be found for the Christmas lights.

The city has now signed a contract with the Allgäu Energy and Environment Center.

There will be an inspection with external consultants and training for the caretaker in October.

"Some of the regulations are not that easy to implement," summarized Bettina Schade, the city's managing official.

You have to think carefully about which measures you might even use to cause damage.

All municipal properties from the town hall to the building yard should be checked, and the Lech sports hall also had to be looked at separately.

"This ordinance does not apply to schools, kindergartens and retirement homes, but we have tried to raise awareness there too."

You can find more current news from the region around Schongau at Merkur.de/Schongau.

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