LORENZ sees GEG amendment as confirmation of its product strategy
On July 8, 2022, the Federal Council approved a defused version of the GEG amendment, which will come into force at the beginning of January and make the previously supported EH55 standard mandatory. This brings the federal government closer to its goal of making the EH40 regulations mandatory as a new requirement by 2025.
The current new efficiency standard is not based on the current BEG funding guidelines for “Efficiency House 55 (EH55)”, as provided for in the government’s formulation aid. This means that only the permissible primary energy requirement of the reference building should be reduced. All provisions relating to the requirements for the building envelope remain unchanged for the time being. This means that the specifications for the insulation area correspond to the previous regulations.
Effective insulation is key to success
This is exactly what leads to criticism from energy consultants, who argue that only efficient building shells can sustainably reduce energy requirements. The efficiency gained in energy production would be wasted due to inadequate insulation.
In contrast, real estate associations welcome the waiver of further tightening of insulation regulations as “affordable climate protection”. Further insulation would result in negative life cycle costs due to the insulation bonding and production and therefore no increase in the efficiency of residential buildings. In the case of commercial properties, insulation would actually have a counterproductive effect because more energy would be required to heat it up.
“Straw as an insulating material not only insulates, but also has a regulating effect,” explains Rainer Schmidt, the managing director of Lorenz GmbH. “Nor can one speak of negative life cycle costs because hardly any CO2 is used for further processing and disposal. Nature takes care of the rest – straw has an excellent climate balance. We are also pleased that our products already meet future requirements. In addition, the insulating properties of the straw also act as a heat shield in summer.”
