BLOOM Workshop on Energy Efficiency

Opening Session: Baden-Wuerttemberg and Romania. Passive House Concept

Steinbeis House | Stuttgart | 19.04.2023

Opening Session: Baden-Wuerttemberg and Romania

The two-day professional program in Germany began with a workshop at Steinbeis headquarters in Stuttgart. At the opening, Member of Parliament Oana Özmen emphasized the importance of the Baden-Württemberg-Romanian cooperation. Mrs. Özmen from Bucharest participated online. As a representative of the Parliament’s Industry and Services Committee, she is intensively involved in the design of suitable regulations for the promotion of energy efficiency.

Tobias Eisele, head of department at Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector, personally welcomed the visitors from Romania. Mr. Eisele introduced to participants Germany’s ambitious plans. From 2024, only heat generators powered by at least 65% renewable energies may be installed. The highest level of effort is required to comply with the new regulations. On the one hand, this concerns the question of financing. But also the availability of the necessary technology on the market – and even more so the availability of the specialists to install it – are particular challenges. Mr. Eisele answered all the participants’ questions honestly and explained that there are still no definitive solutions to some problems. The challenges are similar in Romania and Germany. Therefore, there will be further meetings at the political, economic and academic levels.

The Passive House Concept

The Steinbeis Danube Center invited a representative of the Passive House Institute to the first round of technical discussions. The Passive House concept is the only internationally recognized, performance-based energy standard in construction. Dragos Arnautu is training and building certifier of the Passive House Institute. He introduced to the participants the 5 principles of passive buildings: thermal insulation, passive house windows, adequate insulation strategy, airtightness and the thermal bridge reduced design. In detail Mr. Arnautu explained the positive impact and effects of implementing each principle. The institute has already trained more than 100 energy consultants in Romania and cooperates with almost 100 tradespersons in the country. However, many more experts are needed in Romania, which is why the ongoing collaboration between the Passive House Institute and the EUKI project partner Urban-Incerc offers enormous potential for expansion.