The CO2 emissions of all properties owned by the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district have decreased by 57 percent since 2008.
Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before the buildings are climate-neutral.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
- The abbreviation “Seke 2035” has stood for the efforts of the district for more than ten years to act in terms of climate protection in its properties - primarily schools. In the district building and school committee, the district office's climate protection officer, Andreas Süß, took stock of what had been achieved so far in this “school development concept for the energy transition 2035”, which aims to make buildings climate-neutral by 2035. And chief executive René Beysel made some suggestions to the district councils as to which goals could be set next.
Suss described it as a “very nice result” that the CO2 emissions of all district properties have decreased by 57 percent since 2008.
One factor here: total energy consumption fell by 15 percent in the period mentioned - with electricity consumption remaining almost constant.
From Suss's point of view, this is not surprising: “More and more technologies are being used in schools,” he said, using the keywords “ventilation systems” and “digitization”.
In the heat sector, however, energy consumption fell by 20 percent within twelve years.
Heating with wood chips instead of gas
From the point of view of climate protection, it is of particular importance that the district now increasingly relies on regenerative energy sources. “We never had oil heating,” said Suss. Originally, however, schools and other properties in the district were largely heated with gas. The energy consumption for this energy source is "extremely declining" and has decreased by 68 percent since 2008, according to the climate protection officer. Instead, they are increasingly relying on wood chips and district heating. As a result, the share of renewable energies in heat generation has grown from eight percent in 2015 to 63 percent today - "and the trend is rising," says Süß.
According to the Suess' report, the savings were achieved, for example, through energetic renovation of the school buildings, in Tölz, for example, combined with the construction of a biomass power plant.
At the Geretsried school center there is a chance of achieving a balanced CO2 balance this year.
In some properties there is of course “considerable room for improvement”, Suss noted, naming the vocational and secondary schools in Wolfratshausen.
Proposal: new buildings in future according to the passive house standard
"Overall, we can be proud of what we have achieved in the past twelve years," said Deputy District Administrator Thomas Holz (CSU), who chaired the meeting.
Hauptamtsleiter Beysel added that the renovation measures carried out in the past few years were “not an end in itself”, but also due to the “life cycle” of the schools - “all buildings were over 50 years old”.
He presented the district councils with some approaches for updating the “Seke 2035” in order to take into account new legal requirements and anchor the goal of “sustainability”.
It could be stipulated that new buildings and renovations with total costs of over one million euros should be carried out in the passive house standard or with passive house components.
More charging options for electric cars in the future?
It could also be stipulated that for all new buildings or renovations the heat supply should be based on regenerative energy sources or combined heat and power. A “sustainability concept” for larger construction projects and the requirement to always install the greatest possible power generation capacity through photovoltaic systems for new buildings and roof renovations are also conceivable as contributions to more climate protection. Another suggestion: In rural district properties, five percent of the parking spaces should be equipped with a charging facility. The suggestions should now first be discussed in the political groups.
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