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Local Climate Protection: Lauf a.d. Pegnitz Saves Costs and Energy
Lauf a.d. Pegnitz has set itself ambitious aims: until 2030, the town intends to switch com-pletely to renewable energies. It has initiated an integrated climate protection concept and successfully completed the first measures.
Integrated Climate Protection Plan and Climate Protection Manager
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 The town Lauf a.d. Pegnitz. |
Since 2010, the city of Lauf has been working with an integrated climate protection plan, and since May 2011, a climate protection manager promotes its realisation. He develops and maintains an energy and climate protection controlling system. Lauf is all set for climate protection. The town on the river Pegnitz realises modernisations and energetic improvements in its communal buildings in order to save energy and to save the climate. The town proudly presents its first successes: every year it saves far over 750 tons of CO2 thanks to contracting focused on energy-saving, modern heating and lighting systems, the recycling of foul gases from its municipal sewage treating plant for energy and heating, and more efficient lighting in its streets.
Clever School: Regenerative Energy from the School Roof
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 Solar plant on the roof of the Heuchlinger school. |
A prime example for the synergy effects in communal climate protection is the modernisa-tion of the Heuchlinger School in Lauf during the summer of 2011. Its energy balance bene-fits greatly from improved roof insulation – thermal loss has sunk to ten percent compared to before the renovation. With the stairwells and parts of the façade optimised, too, the en-vironment is saved 15,5 tons of CO2 emissions every year. That is still not all: The Lauf mu-nicipal utility has rented the renovated roof for a solar plant. An expected annual production of 25.600 kWh means another CO2 reduction of approximately 13 tons.
Lauf Mayor Benedikt Bisping resumes: "The roof modernisation of the Hechlinger School was urgent. By combining it with concrete energy-saving measures, the town benefits in various ways." Classroom heating will be cheaper, CO2 emissions are reduced thanks to regenerative energy production, and what’s more, the town generates extra gains by renting out the roof. Everybody wins with communal climate protection: man, nature, and the municipality.
Lauf Climate Protection Programme: a Partnership between Town and Citizens
Since 2009, the town of Lauf, its public utility and its gas company have helped Lauf citizens with investments in sustainable technologies and energy-saving measures. They subsidise natural gas heating and heating circulating pumps as well as natural gas and electric vehicles. There are subsidies available for wood-based heating systems, building insulation, solar thermal energy, the use of rainwater and the greening of roofs. Innovative environment projects and passive or energy-efficient houses are eligible for funding, too.
Since the start of the programme, Lauf citizens have received 73.300 Euro from their munic-ipality, with additional 41.100 Euro from the public utility and gas company. The funding has helped to finance nine wood-based heating systems, thermal insulation at 29 buildings, 64 solar thermal plants with a surface of 624 m², a plus-energy building and 29 measures relat-ed to rainwater and green roofs. The municipal subsidies alone produce a yearly reduction of at least 240 tons of CO2 – and more projects are already being realised
