Energetische Quartier- und Stadtsanierung am Beispiel der Stadt Riedstadt - Ein Forschungsbericht

Renovating districts and urban areas to improve energy performance, a research report based on the town of Riedstadt, Hessen.

Climate protection activity and efforts are no longer targeted solely at reducing emissions of harmful gases. Policy, implementation and public debate all now focus much more on security of supply, self-sufficiency in energy, and the scarcity of resources.
The building sector plays a key role in shaping legislation, initiatives and support for research in this area. In particular, the existing building stock holds great potential for saving energy and reducing CO₂. Progress made on harnessing this potential has so far been slow, for reasons including economics and the country's demographic structure. The 'grandfathering' set out in the German constitution also prevents new legislation applying retrospectively to existing buildings.
Yet if we look beyond the traditional limits of addressing individual buildings, district or city-wide approaches provide new opportunities for action which encompass the existing housing stock. Thus conventional (hardly practicable) renovation measures on individual buildings can be replaced or enhanced with measures relating to construction and/or energy supply technology at district level. Since the built fabric also creates social cohesion, this approach (at district level) also provides a means by which building professionals can achieve targeted public involvement.
The present article reports selected results from the finished project 'Climate protection concept for the town of Riedstadt'. This project received financial support from the federal government's Climate Initiative. The project aimed to develop an integrated climate protection concept for saving energy sustainably and reducing CO₂ emissions. The town's task list focused on the building stock and energy infrastructure. The transport sector has also been the subject of an overarching project managed by the Groß-Gerau district.