The future human habitat
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At home with the feel-good factor Heat pumps also provide air conditioning in the summer months by working in reverse, extracting warm air from indoors and releas- ing it into the environment. Green roofs and façades provide additional heat protection. Plants, too, keep out fine dust and noise while also promoting biodiversity as a habitat for animal life. Façade greening is eligible for funding in Vienna, like many other sustainability projects. As an extra bonus, plants add a wel- coming touch to the aesthetic of any home. Renovation in existing housing Older residential buildings use more heat- ing energy than modern new buildings. This is where thermal renovation comes into the picture: post-fitting insulation on the basement ceiling, building fronts, and top floor ceiling as well as window replacement all play a major role in minimising energy consumption. Install- ing external roller blinds with heat-insulated light metal slats may also help. Replacing the entire heating system may be beneficial but not always feasible at short notice. In such cases, a service water heat pump may be a welcome addition as this would, at least, provide hot water in a sustainable way. This device uses warm indoor air where temperatures are higher than necessary, for instance in basements and laundry drying rooms. Finally, a pro tip for apartment seekers: it’s always worth studying the energy performance certificate for the respective building (from A++ to G) to compare the energy efficiency in a property. This will help you assess current and future costs more accurately.
leasantly cool in the summer, cosy and warm in the winter – a dream home?
This is already a living reality in many of Vienna’s residential buildings, and it could be in others.
Energy efficiency will play an especially important role in future residential construction projects, but renovating existing properties may also prove beneficial.
Apartment seekers are increasingly focused on daily energy consumption and costs. Answers can be found in the Viennese housing indus- try and the many alternative ways of creating energy-efficient housing in the city that have been explored in the past few years. Intelligent construction New-build projects can already generate a growing proportion of the required heating, hot water, power, and even air conditioning themselves. There are two approaches to this: one is to create enough space on building surfaces for photovoltaic systems to generate electricity from solar energy, and the other is to use heat pumps that tap into thermal ener- gy from the ground, groundwater, or air, and convert it into heat.
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