Climate-friendly construction: Rhineland-Palatinate starts a revolution in construction!

Climate-friendly construction: Rhineland-Palatinate starts a revolution in construction!

The debate about climate protection in the construction industry is gaining momentum. After all, the building sector is responsible for an impressive 40 percent of the energy requirement in Germany and is one of the largest causes of greenhouse gases. This makes the initiative of Environment and Climate Protection Minister Katrin Eder, who recently presented the book “Paths of the Bauwende” all the more important. This work, which was funded by the Ministry of Climate Protection with around 33,000 euros, highlights current findings on climate-friendly construction and offers valuable recommendations for action for the industry. mkuem.rlp.de reports that the book emerged from a conference held by the Bauen Climate Alliance and the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University of Kaiserslautern-Landau in 2023, which was attended by participants from various countries, including France and Belgium.

Particularly worth mentioning is the newly developed “Design for Disassembly” concept, which aims to take the reusability of components into account as early as the planning phase. Examples of exemplary projects in this area include the Diemerstein workshop and research hall, for which funding of 60,000 euros was made available. In addition, the “Re-Use Timber Construction” project is being supported with almost 650,000 euros to create a nationwide material database for timber construction elements.

Climate-friendly building in Rhineland-Palatinate

A central goal of the Climate Alliance for Building in Rhineland-Palatinate is to promote climate-friendly buildings. In the three years since it was founded, around two million euros in funding has already been approved. Projects such as hardwood research and the use of small wood have not only contributed to research, but also to practical application in the construction industry. These initiatives have already been recognized with prizes, including the German Civil Engineering Prize 2024.

The figures from the industry are clear. Although the construction industry only accounts for 1.9 percent of total domestic energy consumption, it still contributes 1.1 percent to CO2 emissions. In addition, construction companies have only limited options for directly reducing energy consumption and emissions. Therefore, all stakeholders are required to do their part to minimize the environmental impact of construction. Typical starting points are the use of preliminary products with low energy consumption and the use of modern building technology.

Federal statistics found that in 2023 direct CO2 emissions in Germany were 739 million tons. A third of these emissions come from households and companies, which are contributing to the increasing discussion about sustainable construction methods, as recent initiatives in Rhineland-Palatinate show. The construction industry is also facing the challenge of actively reducing its own impact on the environment and thinking of innovative solutions that make sense not only ecologically but also economically. bauindustrie.de offers interesting insights and analyzes.