Wiesental – Aachen, Germany

Built in the 1970s in Aachen, Germany, these four apartment buildings were energy renovated as part of a district wide regeneration programme.  Its use of innovative heat pump technology linked to a highly energy efficient envelope led to the achievement of 54% energy savings

Some of the buildings in the Aachen regeneration scheme had to be renovated while the inhabitants stayed in residence.  Many have been living in their apartments for a very long time and they have relatively low rents. Under the German law, landlords can increase the rental fee by a certain amount to recover costs for energy saving measures over time.  This is very difficult in the houses with low income residents.

Apartments in other buildings will be renovated while the tenants are not in residence, so the possibilities to adapt the rental fee to the new standard are easier.  A significant aspect of this project was the work done by the City of Aachen in educating and informing residents on the benefits of energy renovation and how renovating their buildings would bring benefits in the long term.  Vouchers were given to residents to avail of a consultation from one of the City of Aachen’s energy specialists.

Principal Characteristics of the Renovation Works:

Post on the EU-GUGLE project from the City of Aachen’s website: http://www.aachen.de/DE/stadt_buerger/energie/gebaeude_effizienz/eu_gugle/index.html

EU-GUGLE Blog post on Aachen:  http://eu-gugle.eu/pilot-cities/aachen/