Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has announced regulations for saving energy. Among other things, public buildings should only be heated to a maximum of 19 degrees, said the Green politician in an interview with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". "We will enact regulations on the Energy Security Act," he said.
According to the German Energy Agency (DENA), there are a total of around 186,000 public buildings in Germany. By lowering the room temperature by one degree Celsius, around six percent of gas can be saved on average.
Monuments no longer illuminated
In addition, buildings and monuments should no longer be illuminated at night and advertising systems should not be illuminated, according to Habeck. "More savings are also needed in the world of work." This is currently being discussed with the Ministry of Labor and the social partners.
In July, Habeck presented the cornerstones of a new energy security package. The background to this is the severely curtailed Russian gas supplies. The paper said it was important that gas consumption also decrease in companies, office buildings and private households. To this end, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning additional energy and efficiency measures in close coordination with other departments of the Federal Government.
Reduce water temperature in swimming pools
The German Association of Cities has presented a list of twelve suggestions on how municipalities can save energy. The water temperature in public swimming pools can be reduced or the hot water can be switched off completely in "selected public buildings". With the start of the heating season, schools can limit the temperature in gyms to a maximum of 15 degrees and in classrooms to the legal minimum of 20 degrees.
However, experts emphasize that private households and industrial companies must also reduce their consumption. The former consume 31 percent and the latter around 37 percent of all gas in Germany. Industry reduced its consumption by around eleven percent in March and April, and private households made savings of six percent.
Waste heat from data centers is enough for 350,000 households
But there are also other ideas on how to save heating energy. According to a study by the digital association Bitkom, around 350,000 apartments in Germany can be supplied with energy for heating and hot water every year with the waste heat from large data centers. "We shouldn't continue to let this potential lie fallow," said Bitkom President Achim Berg at the end of July.
The data centers would have to be connected directly to public and private district heating networks – but the necessary infrastructure is often missing. The waste heat could, for example, be used to heat municipal facilities such as swimming pools, but also private apartments and commercial buildings, the association explained. Medium and large data centers could be considered, especially in the regions of Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
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