The "ECO-Watt Project": building a Negawatt power plant in a school

Panel: Panel 5: Energy Efficiency Markets & Financing Mechanisms

Author:
Dieter Seifried, Büro Ö-quadrat

Abstract

To highlight the marked energy savings potential that exists in public buildings, the author developed a concept for realising this savings potential and for documenting the fact that energy-saving and climate protection measures can be economically profitable. The objective was to build a "Negawatt power plant" at a local-authority school in Freiburg, using private capital. An organisation (ECO-Watt GmbH) was created in May 1998 to implement the project. Besides retrofitting the lighting system, efficiency improvements were made to the ventilation and heating system. In addition, two solar plants (thermal and photovoltaic) were installed. The investment for the project as a whole totalled EUR 250,000.

To finance the investments, membership in the organisation was offered to interested investors, with priority given to the parents of the school's students. The ECO-Watt company pays interest on the capital according to the reduced energy costs resulting from the project. The capital will have been paid back to the investors after eight years, which is the term for the contract between ECO-Watt and the City of Freiburg. The interest rate will be between three and six percent.

The cost savings for energy and water achieved through the "Negawatt power plant" work out at more than EUR 65,000 per year. A saving of more than 350 tonnes of CO_2 per annum will be achieved through the project. Although the city of Freiburg derives financial benefit from the project, with cost savings of approximately EUR 500,000, it was very difficult to win the city's co-operation.

The educational component of the project ensures that the students and teachers at the school are involved in the project and benefit from its financial success. One objective is to inform students and teachers about new efficiency technologies and sustainable energy resources as well as about the necessity to save limited natural resources.

The concept developed in the Freiburg pilot project will now be multiplied in North Rhine-Westphalia.