A major chunk of our emissions comes from the Czech Republic, which has a high proportion of solid fuels such as coal in the energy systems. Therefore, in the Czech Republic, the focus will mainly be on shifting from coal-based local boilers to more efficient central gas boilers. We will also disconnect from fossil-based district heating to heat pumps driven by origin-certified renewable electricity in selected buildings. These measures will increase the standard of living for tenants and drive major emission reduction. For example, in Sweden, in one of our properties in Katrineholm, the buildings’ energy usage went down by 10% from 2017 to 2019 by installing new, local building connected, district heat exchangers, pumps, valves, and control systems.
Similarly, in one of our properties in Trelleborg, by installing heat pumps (heat recovery from the exhaust and air ventilation), completed with other optimization actions and fine-tuning, we managed to reduce the energy usage of the property by 37% from 2017 to 2019. This area is one of our focus areas where we have performed various installations of heat pumps, and this is ongoing also for the coming years.
There is a consensus within the global scientific community that climate change is real, rapidly escalating, and caused by humans. Heimstaden bases its sustainability strategy in climate science, and by raising our climate ambitions, we strive to have a positive impact on the global effort to combat climate change and takes responsibility for our environmental footprint, for the betterment of the planet, and hopefully, to the inspiration of the housing industry.
Katarina Skalare, Heimstaden, Sweden
This text has been shortened by the HPC team