The Federal Industrial Association of Germany House, Energy and Environmental Technology comprises 96 companies, which manufacture highly efficient systems and components for heating, domestic hot water, ventilation and air-conditioning of buildings. “Efficiency and renewable energies” – That’s the dual strategy pursued by BDH and its members. The range of products offered by the BDH members includes state-of-the-art system technology and components, which convert fossil fuels efficiently and use renewable energies. Their heat output ranges from 4 kilowatt to 36 megawatt. Thus, the area of application extends from the single-family house right up to large industrial installations. Internationally, the BDH member companies are the leaders in technology. They represent nearly 60 percent of the European market in the area of heat supply to buildings. BDH members have about 62,000 employees worldwide and a turnover of more than 12 billion Euro.

More than 40 percent of the final energy used in Europe is consumed in the building sector. Around 85 percent of this energy is required for heating and domestic hot water. Nevertheless, within the European Union, this segment now forms approx. onethird of the total energy consumption. This also corresponds to the conditions in Germany.

According to the details provided by the Green Paper “On energy efficiency or doing more with less”, the energy efficiency of buildings comes to only around 50 percent.

As a result, the energy utilised is twice the actual requirement. In other words: 50 percent of the energy will be saved if the buildings are brought in line with the state-of-the-art system technology as well as the building shell are being considered.

Not only the European Commission, but also the Federal Government and other national governments have realised that, by far, the maximum potential for energy-saving and CO2 reduction lies in the energetically outdated buildings of this continent. If appropriate modernisation measures are initiated, the CO2 emissions in Germany alone will come down by nearly 80 million tons a year. This corresponds to nearly 15 percent of the total energy consumption in Germany. If we add the energy-saving and CO2 reduction potentials in the area of industrial process heat up to approx. 36 Megawatt output, the CO2 emission might further reduce by nearly 100 million tons a year or nearly 18 percent of the total energy consumption in Germany.

Last but not the least, the use of efficient systems and renewable energies in buildings and industrial heat applications helps in resource conservation and climate protection, as is clear from the example of Germany. Apart from this, the dual strategy “Efficiency and renewable energies” offers further benefits. For example, it can have significant positive effects on the job market and economy: Additional jobs resulting from the high work intensity of modernisation projects, more investment as well as more than 80 % value creation within the country. Besides, up to 50 percent energy will be saved, which will offer major relief to the tenants as well as landlords occupying the buildings themselves.

The technologies in the heating market were further developed in the past 30 years: Today, e.g. the level of utilisation in the application of the condensing technology has come close to the physical boundary. The use of renewable energies and an additional optimisation of the overall system will further help reduce the consumption of fossil primary energy. Today, a number of technical options are available for covering the corresponding heat demand. The systems based on the dual strategy “Efficiency and renewable energies” are particularly showing a positive performance here.