Berlin startup to wrap homes in ‘second skin’ to increase energy efficiency

• A Berlin-based firm will rehabilitate apartment buildings in the German city of Bochum.
• Ecoworks’s project represents the increased need for eco-friendly and energy-efficient restorations.
• About a third of Germany’s residential buildings have the lowest and next-to-lowest energy efficiency ratings.

A Berlin-based firm will rehabilitate apartment buildings in the German city of Bochum by applying a customized wooden “second skin” to increase their energy efficiency.

As a result of Germany’s energy crisis, which has led to a rise in heating expenses, Ecoworks’s project represents the increased need for eco-friendly and energy-efficient restorations.

Before the crisis, landlords viewed energy-efficient residential building upgrades as a luxury rather than a need in a sector that missed its CO2 targets in Germany last year.

This is now changing due to growing energy costs and a new rule that divides a CO2 fee between tenants and landlords based on the efficiency of the property.

“In this property, approximately 70 to 80 percent of energy expenses are saved,” Emanuel Heisenberg, CEO of Ecoworks, told the media in reference to the apartment complexes in Bochum.

Structures account for 35% of total energy consumption in Germany, the largest economy in Europe. According to a February research by the GdW housing and real estate group, about a third of Germany’s 19.25 million residential buildings have the lowest and next-to-lowest energy efficiency ratings.

GdW spokesman Andreas Schichel told the media that an increase in loan rates, rising energy, and raw material costs, and ever-changing government subsidies are constraining investment.

Additionally, a lack of construction workers and lengthy rehabilitation processes discourage landlords from undertaking such initiatives.

The firm of Heisenberg is attempting to overcome these barriers by constructing prefabricated climate-neutral facades using a technology that requires approximately one-third less time and one-half the labor required.

Heisenberg stated, “Normally such projects take 6 to 9 months. In our case, it takes 15 weeks.”

The company claims its restorations are CO2 neutral since they use cellulose for insulation and wood for the exterior façade.

“You cannot tear down all the houses and build them new with cement with steel. It’s just well above our carbon budget. So you have to build with renewable materials such as wood,” Heisenberg said.

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