Energy Efficiency and Consumption

GRI 3-3

Before we can select suitable means of enhancing energy efficiency, and thereby reducing the amount of energy needed, it is essential that we have transparent usage data for residential and commercial properties.

Our residential tenants’ annual energy consumption (heat and electricity) stood at 109.77 kWh/m² on average in the reporting year. This puts us below the average usage figures for Germany’s housing stock, according to studies by ENTRANZE⁵ and DENA, the German Energy Agency⁶. All of our residential properties are connected to the city of Wolfsburg’s district heating network, which has a positive effect on our carbon footprint. The high energy standards of our residential properties also have a positive effect, resulting in an average thermal energy of 73.90 kWh/m².

Energy consumption (heat and electricity) at our self-occupied office properties stood at 80.74 kWh/m² on average in the reporting year. Heating accounted for 84% of this amount, while electricity made up the remaining 16%. Compared with the average total consumption of existing office space in Germany, our figures are likewise much lower than those quoted in the studies by ENTRANZE (–30%) and DENA (–16%). Our self-occupied offices are also connected to Wolfsburg’s district heating network and display a high level of energy efficiency. This enables us to post a figure that is 66% lower than the average heating energy consumption reported for office space in Germany by ENTRANZE.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the associated challenges and government requirements for significant energy savings, Volkswagen Immobilien continued rolling out its own energy-saving concept in 2023, which is based in part on the experience of the parent company. For example, mobile working and desk sharing should help to integrate a better space utilization concept at our offices.

To further reduce our energy consumption figures, we constantly strive to boost our properties’ energy efficiency. At present, adherence to the specific requirements of the EG40EE energy efficiency standard and DGNB Gold certification is required whenever newbuild projects are planned at Volkswagen Immobilien. This involves assessing the overall performance of a building using criteria relating to environmental quality, economic quality, sociocultural and functional quality, technical quality, process quality and site quality. We have set out this approach in an internal BLUE BUILDING company directive.

An energy efficiency expert (BEG auditor) and one of our three internally qualified DGNB auditors must be involved in the realization of newbuild projects to ensure that they meet the EG-40-EE criteria for financial assistance and successfully pass the DGNB conformity assessment. We also have two DGNB consultants on hand to advise us internally. These accredited DGNB ESG managers oversee the entire DGNB certification process as experts in ESG verification for the EU Taxonomy and the DGNB System for Buildings In Operation. Only they are authorized to submit corresponding certification projects to the DGNB. Through the mandatory involvement of technical experts, we ensure that all relevant sustainability aspects are incorporated into the projects as early as possible and taken into account throughout the entire life cycle.

Since we launched the standard, all residential and commercial newbuild projects at Volkswagen Immobilien have complied with the BLUE BUILDING criteria. In 2022, we further developed⁷ the old BLUE BUILDING 2019 standard, for example based on the Efficiency House 40 EE criteria as set out in the German funding program for efficient buildings (BEG). Other new additions include defining concrete carbon reduction targets for both operation and construction, planning various options to achieve climate-neutrality, developing passive, low-tech energy concepts, selecting sustainable locations by prioritizing brownfield sites and avoiding building in water-stressed areas, and increasing use intensity by optimizing floor plans.

In our efforts to make our buildings more energy-efficient, we pay particular attention to the heating, façade design and lighting of our properties. For heating in our portfolio, for instance, we give preference to low-carbon heating systems. The city center of Wolfsburg is fully connected to the district heating network. In the residential sector, alternative energy concepts are additionally implemented when properties are refurbished to ensure that heat is supplied via heat pumps, solar thermal systems and photovoltaics, as well as district heating. We pursue a similar approach in the commercial sector, especially outside areas not supplied with district heating.

All of our future newbuilds and gutting and redevelopment projects will be built to the latest BLUE BUILDING standard. The property planned for 2022 in Wolfsburg’s Fallersleben district, the Mozartbogen, was still planned according to the old BLUE BUILDING standard and is currently being completed accordingly. In the commercial division, we are focusing on heat pump technology combined with the installation of photovoltaic systems in places where district heating is not a viable option. For instance, the plans for the new Volkswagen dealership in southern Hanover, which is scheduled for completion in 2024, have been changed to use geothermal technology instead of gas-fired heating.

Apart from choosing the lowest-emission heating possible, we are also investing in the optimization of our building façades. For instance, depending on the direction in which they face, the façades of commercial properties are fitted with features that provide shade and reduce heat ingress in the summer. These features go well beyond the legal requirements under Germany’s Buildings Energy Act. We are also assessing the viability of innovative façade materials that have an exceptionally low carbon footprint or can be used to harvest energy.

We are turning to low-emission lighting technology by using LED light sources. Generally, the residential sector is being converted to LED lighting as part of renovation projects, while LED lighting technology is already being used across the board in the commercial sector. This low-emission technology was also used in the public infrastructure at Steimker Gärten, which we will hand over to the city of Wolfsburg after completion.

⁵ ENTRANZE Consortium (2014): Laying Down the Pathways to Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings. A Toolkit for Policy Makers.
https://www.entranze.eu/files/downloads/D6_11/entranze_report_final.pdf

⁶ Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena) (2016): dena-Studie. Auswertung von Verbrauchskennwerten energieeffizienter Wohngebäude.
https://www.dena.de/fileadmin/dena/Dokumente/Pdf/9164_dena-Studie._Auswertung_von_Verbrauchskennwerten_energieeffizienter_Wohngebaeude.pdf

⁷ At the end of 2020, this requirement and Germany’s new Buildings Energy Act (GEG) replaced the German Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV), which previously applied. Since then, they have formed the basis for all subsidized measures to improve buildings’ energy performance. Under the Efficiency House 40 EE requirements, renewables must provide at least 55% of the energy needed to heat and cool the building