Irish study group visits Germany on energy efficiency tour

The study group spent three days travelling to a suite of preorganised events where formal presentations were made by companies to the group, along with very interesting site visits to several locations and company facilities.

The busy schedule allowed for in depth question and answer time and allowed the participants to maximise their understanding of the technologies and construction types they saw.

A broad mix of participants from the SEAI, education and industry ensured a lively mix of questions and opinions. The benefit of travelling with the German Irish Chamber was the focused organisation that the chamber brought to the trip, and their ability to get access to company facilities and senior management.

Highlights included a visit to and presentation at the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt, a trip to the large scale Bahnstadt passive house development in Heidelberg, where both domestic and commercial buildings were visited, and to the Schwetzingen facility of leading airtightness product manufactuer pro clima. 

The trip highlighed how far collectively Ireland has travelled over the last 10 years with its progressive Part L of the building regulations (which deals with energy efficiency), but also pointed out what still could be done in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency. The nZEB standard is on the German horizon too.

Likewise, the opportunity to leapfrog into a new, fit-for-purpose non-domestic Part L when it is released at the end of 2017 is a significant challenge and opportunity here in Ireland. 

The German-Irish Chamber of Commerce will organise further similar study trips in future, and anyone interested should contact:

Sven Woller
German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 00353 - (0) 87 7647176
Mob: 00353 - (0) 87 7647176