alpha innotec
Ecological and economical: heat supply in the neighborhood
An environmentally friendly heat supply is a key factor in achieving climate targets. The requirements for construction projects are correspondingly high. According to building regulations, the provision of heat from renewable energy sources must already account for more than 50 percent of the energy used in a new building or renovation project. Modern heat pumps heat, cool and prepare hot water without the use of fossil fuels and are highly energy efficient. They are therefore both ecologically and economically sustainable and make a significant contribution to climate protection. This makes them ideal heat suppliers for entire residential districts. alpha innotec produces state-of-the-art heat pumps “made in Germany” for a wide range of requirements. Based in Kasendorf, Bavaria, the company has been designing accommodation solutions in Germany and other European countries for over ten years. The Hüttengelände climate quarter in Neustadt am Rübenberge is currently home to the second largest “cold” local heating network in Germany that supplies future residents with environmentally friendly geothermal energy. Heat pumps from alpha innotec turn this into heating energy for over 1000 people.
Photo @alpha innotec
Neustadt am Rübenberg has been a model town for the Hanover region for years. The municipality’s ambitious climate protection program also includes climate-friendly residential development. This made it clear that a conventional solution was out of the question for supplying heat to the new residential quarter on the former ironworks site, and that an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient concept needed to be found. The project has considerable dimensions: a new district with 72 single-family homes and 44 apartment buildings is now being built here in three construction phases. There is also a retirement home, a supermarket and a daycare center. Once completed, which is scheduled for the end of 2022, it will provide living space for over 1,000 people.
Energy from the earth
Most of the primary energy required for the supply comes from a geothermal collector field laid nearby. Another source of energy is a rainwater retention basin that was built specifically for the new district. Frost-proof fluid flows from a central pumping station in the uninsulated pipes of a “cold” heating network into the individual houses and supplies the heat pumps installed there with the required primary energy. Each detached house has its own heat pump, while different concepts are used in the apartment buildings: either decentralized, with one heat pump per residential unit, or with a central system for the whole house.
Heat pumps for the energy transition
“The solution via a cold heating network is particularly energy-efficient,” explains alpha innotec expert Vladimir Tsintsiper, a long-time employee of Alpha innotec and project planner for district solutions. “The infrastructure is comparable to a district heating network. However – due to the lower temperatures and shorter distances – with significantly less energy loss.” He is convinced that new urban districts will invariably be built on the basis of such or similar supply concepts in the future. “There are no more economical solutions. At the same time, they advance the energy transition. Nowadays, there is no municipality that plans a housing estate or a new neighborhood without striving for a cost-effective and environmentally friendly supply of thermal energy. And this can only be achieved with the intelligent, widespread use of heat pumps.”
Photo @alpha innotec
