New certificate for 2,000-watt sites in transformation
The Swiss Federal Office of Energy wants to promote the energy-efficient refurbishment of existing building parks and has launched the new "2000-Watt Area in Transformation" certificate for this purpose. Four pilot projects have already been certified.
Until now, the certificate "2000-watt area" was available in two forms: "in
Development" for projects in the planning and implementation process and "in operation" for sites that have already been built and occupied. Currently, 26 sites throughout Switzerland are certified as "2000-Watt sites", 19 of them "under development", 7 "in operation".
The Swiss Federal Office of Energy is now also taking a closer look at the existing building stock in order to achieve the goals of the Energy Strategy 2050. "That is why we have decided to add a feature to the applicability of the 2000-Watt Area Certificate. This is intended to create an incentive for property owners to renovate their properties in terms of energy efficiency and thus turn them into an important asset within the portfolio" says Daniel Büchel, Vice Director of the SFOE and Head of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies Division and the SwissEnergy program.
The third type of certificate is called "in transformation" and distinguishes existing neighborhoods and areas that are developed in such a way that they achieve the requirements of the 2000-watt areas. Both the actual and the target state as well as the transformation path are considered over a maximum period of 20 years.
Eleven sites have tested the application of the "2000-watt site in transformation" during the three-year pilot phase, and four were awarded the new certificate at the end of April:
The Sursee Campus in Oberkirch (LU), Switzerland's largest education and seminar center, the Swiss Re Campus Mythenquai in Zurich, Axa's headquarters on Römerstrasse in Winterthur, and the Université de Lausanne (UNIL) in Ecublens, Chavannes-près-Renens,
St Sulpice and Lausanne. (ah)
