Berlin's approach to Refurbishment: Energy saving partnership

Couple of weeks ago I went to Berlin to learn more Berlin Energy Saving Partnership.
I met up with Ms Susanne Berger from Berlin Energy Agency, which is responsible for the implementation of the partnership and also with Mr Klaus Ritcher from one of the ESCOs carrying out the implementation of energy efficiency measures.
Berlin energy saving partnership was first introduced by the State of Berlin in 1995. The reason for developing BESP was to reach Germany’s ambitious climate protection objectives, as well as to reduce energy costs. Its basic principle is simple: a private specialized energy service company (the contractor) brings its know-how and financials means into the project. The responsibility of the contractor is to ensure that by making adequate investments, the energy savings can be guaranteed. Both partners then share cost reductions and profits are also shared between the client and the contractor – while energy consumption is reduced.
Under the current BESP, among refurbished buildings there are school, kindergartens, office buildings, swimming pools, theatre, universities and other municipal buildings. All together around 1,400 buildings have being refurbished with the total CO2 reduction of approximately 69,600 t/a. One of the first refurbished buildings was Berlin City Hall.



The refurbishments have been performed by 17 contractors, and the guaranteed savings were achieved in all contracts. On average the guaranteed savings are around 26% of baseline energy consumption, with the highest energy savings resulted in 35% savings!
Interesting, replacement of the windows and insulation are not a part of the programme - implemented energy efficiency measures include refurbishment of heating and illumination, energy management and what is very important user motivation. I found the last measure – user motivation – particularly interesting: it is a requirement for the contractor to teach the building users about energy savings, and by the end user they do not mean buildings manager. If the building under refurbishment is a kindergarten, then the contractor talks to children as well!
This model has proved to be a success in Berlin and is now widely replicated in other European countries, such as Slovenia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, as well as in China, Chile and other countries. It also expands in Germany and there are plans for implementing “Berlin Energy Saving Partnership Plus” where more expensive measures such as building insulation and window replacement will be performed.
More about this progamme will be presented as a part of our workshop on 27th of January – and we will also look at its potential to be implemented in the UK.