Reaching the target with good buildings

Bjoern_Wylezich_stock.adobe.com

The heating transition is a highly ambitious task. At the same time, the goal of a climate-neutral building stock by 2045 in Germany must not be missed. To achieve this, the building sector must be considered and transformed together with the supply sectors and grids. Unrenovated buildings place high demands on the other sectors and can therefore overburden their already highly demanding transformation. The buildings with the poorest efficiency must therefore be refurbished in a targeted manner.

• Renovated buildings offer their occupants many advantages over unrenovated buildings. They are cosy, safer against extreme weather, insensitive to energy price increases and achieve higher sales prices.
   
• Renewable energies will not be available in abundance in the foreseeable future. We cannot rely on the timely ramp-up of new energy sources that are not yet on the market.
   
• The operation of heat pumps in unrenovated buildings leads to higher heating costs than with gas heating.
   
• The amount of heat pump electricity required in Germany in the future will be largely determined by the proportion of unrenovated buildings. If only the worst buildings are refurbished, 6,000 wind turbines can be saved.
   
• Renewable energies are available when the wind blows and the sun shines. Renovated buildings have a very high storage capacity, which can be used to buffer fluctuations in the energy system. At the same time, this flexibility reduces the load on the grids. Unrenovated buildings cool down ten times faster than renovated ones. They offer the system no buffer.
   
• In terms of the German economy, a refurbished building stock is an investment in the future that pays off. In contrast, the costs of energy imports are incurred anew every year - at uncertain prices. A refurbished building stock enables Germany to achieve the targets of the European Effort Sharing Regulation and thus not only avoid high fines but can even sell certificates to other European countries that fail to meet the targets themselves. The full economic costs of climate change cannot yet be foreseen. It is therefore important that politicians translate the economic cost balance sheet into the economic balance sheet of building owners and tenants. Otherwise, politicians will make the achievement of climate targets dependent on the economic viability of individual social groups.
   
• Grey emissions speak in favour of renovation. The construction of a new building generates just as many grey CO₂ emissions as the implementation of 2.4 comprehensive modernisations. The earlier modernisation measures are implemented, the lower the total emissions will be by 2045 - even if renovation measures can be implemented with lower emissions in the future.