(December 4, 2001) Solar energy from without, effective insulation and ventilation within. That’s the nutshell explanation how the building now rising in MS Riem will slash the cost of heating its 18 apartments by up to 90%.

Being constructed by the Munich-based NEST, the apartment complex is the first of its kind in Munich. It has been designed to maximize the intake of solar energy and to minimize the loss of the resulting warmth. To do this, the complex has triple-glazed windows and insulation twice as thick as that found in conventional buildings.

This extra thickness notwithstanding, the building has—quite literally—an airy feeling. That’s due to its extensive use of glass and to the presence of a heat exchanger. It ensures that the fresh air constantly being blown into the house from outside is warmed by the exhausted air being expelled.

These items cause the building to consume 1.5 liters of heating oil per square meter of floor space per year. Conventional structures need some seven times as much. Owners of apartments can expect to pay EURO 50 a year for their heating—one tenth the standard expenditure.

These savings will enable NEST, a company specialized in the building of environmentally-friendly structures, to pass along the marginally (5%) higher costs of construction.
The huge savings on oil consumption will be of great benefit to the climate, for which heating-engendered emissions is one of the greatest and fastest-growing perils.

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