LED lighting and colder pools: This is how district municipalities save energy

Created: 08/09/2022, 06:00

By: Max Wochinger

In many swimming pools, the water temperature should be lowered to save energy.

(symbol photo) © mbe

The energy crisis is also forcing the municipalities in the district of Munich to take action and rethink.

All towns and communities are now investigating where energy can be saved. 

District

– Saving energy is now mandatory for local authorities: the Federal Government’s Energy Saving Ordinance has been in effect since last week.

At the same time, the Ministry of Economics in Berlin is running the "Energy Change" campaign: Municipalities should save energy permanently and become independent of fossil fuels.

How are cities and municipalities in the district of Munich trying to reduce their energy requirements?

Four measures as examples.

Convert street lights to LED

The city of Garching wants to switch street lighting to LED next year.

A spokesman for the city said that this would reduce annual electricity consumption from around 482,500 to less than 200,000 kilowatt hours.

"This results in a savings potential of 59 percent over the entire street lighting power consumption."

Compared to 2012, the community saves around 160,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year – and almost 18,000 euros.

Curb pool temperatures

Another measure: lower the pool temperature in public swimming pools.

The municipality of Ottobrunn is now doing the same thing with the Phönixbad.

As a result, energy consumption can be reduced by around ten percent, the municipality reports.

The municipality heats the pools with renewable district heating anyway.

"We are constantly trying to reduce dependence on fossil fuels," says Ottobrunn Mayor Thomas Loderer (CSU).

The water temperature in the outdoor pool in Haar has been reduced by one degree since May.

Connection to the district heating network

There is also huge savings potential in district heating networks: In Ottobrunn, many buildings have been connected to regenerative district heating in recent years.

Now the gas heating of the fire brigade is to be replaced by renewable district heating.

According to the administration, the municipality wants to save around 40,000 cubic meters of gas per year as a result of the conversion.

In Grünwald, all municipal buildings have been heated with heat from deep geothermal energy since 2012.

According to the municipality, fossil fuels are only used for a maximum of two weeks a year – for example on particularly cold days and during work on the submersible pump.

Around 50 percent of all buildings in Grünwald are already connected to the district heating network.

And the expansion continues: The 100 percent geothermal subsidiary of the municipality could "hardly save itself from applications to connect to the grid" in the energy crisis year 2022, according to the municipality.

In Garching-Hochbrück, the administration wants to connect community buildings to the district heating network in the coming years, such as the district center and the primary school.

Energetic Investigations

In addition, many heating and air conditioning systems are outdated and poorly adjusted.

"They can cause up to 50 percent of the power consumption in office, administrative and industrial buildings as well as in schools," estimates the Federal Ministry of Economics;

it advises a need-based adjustment.

The municipality of Grünwald has tackled this: According to the administration, municipal buildings have been examined from an energy perspective by specialist companies and engineering offices.

Later, the houses were "thermally insulated and brought up to date with building management, measurement and control technology".

In Haar, a group dedicated to saving energy is investigating whether it is worth replacing the heating distribution systems.

Energy saving with limits

In Aying, attempts were made to reduce consumption in the community buildings even before the energy crisis.

But there are also limits, according to the administration: "We do not believe that there are any further savings opportunities in the public buildings in the municipality of Aying, because for example the interval of ventilation was set just for the regular exchange of air during the Corona period in our elementary school elevated".

This causes higher electricity costs.

Mayor Loderer from Ottobrunn does not consider cold water showers in sports facilities to be the right measure.

"Hypercooled, sweaty footballers need warm water," he says.

Sports facilities should only be saved as a last resort.

"Children should not have to suffer again after Corona," says Loderer.

That's why the head of the town hall wants to operate the ice rink next season.

Only, it needs a lot of electricity for this – around 300,000 kilowatt hours.

That is more than eleven percent of the administration's total power consumption.