Renovating apartments with EvoFlat, Cologne, Germany

Wednesday, 6 July 2016

Renovation work of 264 apartments in the old Ford factory in Cologne-Niehl leads to a 94% reduction in CO2 emissions.

Total annual CO2 emissions were reduced to only 180 tons, which is less than 0.7 tons per apartment.

Residents of the old Ford factory in Cologne-Niehl, originally built in 1950, are saving money and the environment after a two-and-a-half-year modernization process.

Before the refurbishment, coal furnaces were the primary source of heating and the energy consumption of the buildings was approximately 290 kWh/m2/year. CO2 emissions were around 3,000 tons, which equates to 10 tons per apartment.

Following refurbishment, the buildings are now so well insulated and efficient that energy consumption has been reduced to an average 47 kWh/m2/year.

Energy is supplied using calorific gas-fired boilers and solar panels. 60% of the water is heated using solar thermal collectors, which is fed into the local heating network and efficiently distributed to each apartment using Danfoss flat stations.

Today, heating the apartments is a virtually carbon-free process and the reduction of energy wastage has resulted in significantly lower heating bills for residents.