Climate protection
Over 40% of energy consumption and around a third of climate-damaging CO2 emissions occur in Switzerland in the building sector. The federal government and the cantons want to significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings and reduce CO2 emissions. Therefore, you support energetic renovations of buildings with financial contributions, including the building program
Energy saving
The concern to save energy is omnipresent in modern society. Electrically operated devices are also ubiquitous. Because their number and their energy consumption have increased steadily in recent years, the efficiency of these devices is of great importance in the overall view of energy consumption. And there is great potential for savings. In 2002, the energy label for the most important household appliances and for electric lamps was introduced in Switzerland. Since then, the energy labels have always been adapted to technical advances. Today there is a general regulation for power consumption in standby and in off mode for all electrical appliances. In addition, there are regulations on the power consumption of various household appliances, on electric light, etc.
Politics
Switzerland now has a secure and inexpensive energy supply. Economic and technological developments and political decisions at home and abroad are currently leading to fundamental changes in the energy markets. In order to prepare Switzerland for this, the Federal Council developed the Energy Strategy 2050. The aim is to take advantage of the new starting position for Switzerland and to maintain our high standard of care. At the same time, the strategy helps to reduce Switzerland’s environmental impact in the energy sector.
Renovate cleverly
Buildings built before 1975 mostly lack a thermal barrier coating. Insufficient heat protection and insufficient air circulation often lead to problems with surface condensate, which results in grey corners. In addition, the rooms are usually not very comfortable in winter because the surface temperature of the outer walls is far below the room temperature. In such cases, the right facade renovation can reduce your energy consumption by up to 30 percent, prevent mould and increase living comfort. This also increases the value retention of your building. You can achieve additional savings if you adapt the building technology at the same time. When renovating, also make sure that the individual measures are coordinated.
GEAK®
The trilingual GEAK is recognized by all cantons and may only be issued by certified experts. On the one hand, it shows how energy-efficient the building envelope is, and on the other hand, how much energy a building needs for standard use.
The determined energy requirement is shown on the energy label in classes from A (very energy efficient) to G (less energy efficient). As a property owner, you receive an objective assessment of the energetic condition and efficiency of your building.
One concept, three products
GEAK: The basic product GEAK is the official energy label of the current state for every residential building. The efficiency of the building envelope describes the quality of the thermal insulation of the building envelope.
GEAK Plus: In addition to the energy label, the GEAK-Plus shows you three variants for energetic modernization tailored to your building.
The new GEAK building records the target values of energy efficiency based on planning values, which has a positive effect on the operation and use of the new building.
Energy parameters
Different sizes play a role in assessing the energetic quality of a building. Basically, one has to differentiate between the requirement calculated in advance, which only refers to the planning values for house and building technology, and the actually measured consumption, which also includes the construction, weather and user behavior. The difference between final and primary energy also plays an important role: final energy is the energy used for heating and water heating in the house. The primary energy requirement also takes into account the energy consumption of upstream process chains outside the building, i.e. the losses incurred from the extraction of the energy source at its source via processing and transport. The use of renewable energies is doing well here. The energy certificate, summarizes all relevant data for the overall energy efficiency of the building at the end of the planning. Among other things, it contains parameters such as the heat loss in the building envelope or the calculated heat requirement. The illustration on a so-called «tape speedometer» allows the energy quality of a building to be recorded at a glance, assessed and compared with other buildings. However, the energy performance certificate of new buildings does not allow any direct conclusions to be drawn about the subsequent energy consumption, since it only indicates the energy requirement under standardized framework conditions.
The labeling of the energy consumption of different goods (devices, buildings, cars) serves to support the purchase decision by providing information about the energy efficiency in use.
The critics concern above all the classification of consumption values into efficiency classes.
The classification of energy efficiency is not very transparent because the classification and calculation basis, which changes depending on the date – and the calculations themselves are hardly comprehensible. On the one hand, the classifications, which are different for each product area, have no linear relationship to the value that is used as an efficiency value (sometimes just the consumption in watts). On the other hand, this calculated efficiency value, which serves as an input value for classification, also includes other variables that have nothing to do with the actual energy efficiency. So, the weight of the car is included. Although you don’t save energy with a higher weight, such heavy cars can achieve the best class, even though they consume more than twice as much as lighter cars, which get a bad class. Of course, heavier cars also need more resources to manufacture.