Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Franz Alt will discuss building sector potentials
20th International Passive House Conference
Darmstad, Germany • April 22-23, 2016.
(Press Release, Passive House Institute, 24 February 2016) Darmstadt, Germany. Eminent guests are expected at this year’s Passive House anniversary celebration: two of the masterminds of the German “energy revolution” will come to Darmstadt on 22 and 23 April. At the 20th International Passive House Conference, Dr. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Dr. Franz Alt will lecture on the economic advantages of energy efficiency and climate protection. A subsequent panel discussion with Dr. Wolfgang Feist, who built the world’s first Passive House 25 years ago, will focus on ways towards a sustainable energy supply for everyone.
Passive House Institute, Alt/Weizsäcker
Since 2012, Weizsäcker is the co-President of the renowned Club of Rome, a global think tank that achieved prominence mainly through its study “The Limits to Growth”. Previous to this, the scientist headed the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, among other things. As a member of the German Parliament, he was chairman of the Committee on the Environment and a Special Committee of Inquiry into the Globalisation of the World Economy. Since the 1980s, Weizsäcker has also written numerous books on the subject of economic growth and climate protection and how these can be reconciled with each other in a sustainable way.
The German television journalist and author Franz Alt has been demanding a fundamental change of our energy supply system for some 30 years. At first, his commitment to energy from the wind and the sun was often ridiculed by experts from the energy industry. History however has shown that he was right; the German “energy revolution” is now virtually unstoppable. According to information provided by the German government, the share of renewable energy had already exceeded the 30 percent mark towards the end of 2015. In his widely acclaimed books, Alt explains how society as a whole can benefit from a transition to energy from renewable sources.
Over a third of the energy used in industrialized countries is used for operating buildings, most of this going towards heating and cooling. With Passive House technology, it is possible to reduce this consumption by up to 90 percent. The small remaining demand can be covered by regionally available renewable energy sources practically anywhere in the world. The Passive House Standard is therefore decisive for the success of the “energy revolution”.
