Groundwater heat pump & concrete core activation

The supply and function of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in the existing and new buildings is ensured by four heat pumps and two groundwater pumps with heat exchangers, which are fed with groundwater from a depth of 8-13 meters. We use green electricity from hydroelectric power plants to power the heat pumps.

5,500 m of plastic pipes are laid in the concrete ceiling. The flow of water ensures the base load in our offices for heating in winter and cooling in summer.

Controlled ventilation system & conservatory

In our buildings, the rest of the ventilation concept is based on a controlled ventilation system. The heat pump is used to heat fresh air before it is fed into the rooms. The used air is recycled by means of an installed heat recovery system.

Our conservatory serves as a heat buffer for our warehouse in the existing building. The excess heat generated is used to heat the warehouse with a volume of 30,000 m³ in winter and during the transitional period.

Green roof & timber construction of the hall roof

The greening of our office roof is an additional measure to keep the offices below cool in the summer months. This flora also makes a valuable contribution to improving the microclimate.

The special construction of our hall roofs is a combination of a wooden underside and a wooden top side with a layer of rock wool in between. Images from a thermal imaging camera show almost low-energy standards – a real rarity in industrial construction.

Photovoltaic system

Our first photovoltaic system with a grid feed-in of more than 16,000 kWh per year is located on an area of 200 m² in the extension of the conservatory. Two further systems are located on the almost 10,000 m² hall roofs. With a total peak output of 500 kWp, this will save around 300,000 kg of carbon dioxide per year. By using green electricity, using our own electricity and feeding it into the local energy grid, we are already generating more CO²-free energy than we actually consume and are thus also completely dispensing with fossil fuels.

Lighting & light building element

Only energy-saving LED lighting is used in the extension with the integrated Feinsinn – organic store and gourmet kitchen. Thanks to motion detectors in the warehouse, the LED lighting is only in use when work is being carried out in the warehouse and is therefore very energy-efficient.

A wall area of almost 1000 m² on the south/east side of our building allows a pleasant light orange light to enter the warehouses, thus considerably reducing the use of artificial light. These specially manufactured wall elements reflect the sun’s steep rays in summer. On the other hand, low incident sunlight in the winter months is let through and warms the hall.

Rainwater utilization & use of exhaust air heat

A rainwater storage tank supplies our ecologically designed garden and pond with water.

The exhaust air from the cooling systems in our Feinsinn organic food store and gourmet kitchen and in the Byodo warehouse is used to heat the service water and the entire building in two heat recovery tanks with direct condensation. This means that we do not need to use additional energy to heat the water.

Concrete as the building material for the extension

The extension was constructed using precast concrete elements and in-situ concrete structures.

According to the Precast Concrete Association, concrete façades have a positive impact on the sustainability of a building:

• Long service life & high durability
• Can be dismantled and recycled
• Easy to maintain and low-maintenance
• Practically almost thermal bridge-free design
• Positive indoor climate thanks to the thermal storage capacity of concrete in summer heat insulation

Ecological raw materials

In addition to concrete, there are also two special floors in the extension. The ecological Wineo Purline floor on the first floor, a permanently elastic polyurethane floor covering – free from chlorine, solvents and plasticizers – made from rapeseed and castor oil (renewable raw materials) and chalk and the Noraplan unita, a rubber floor free from PVC, plasticizers (phthalates) and halogens.

In addition, energy-saving, state-of-the-art LED lighting is used in the warehouse and in the new Feinsinn building.

Sustainability and regionality

In terms of sustainability and regionality, the natural wood trusses (wood) above the green center are interesting because they were produced with untreated wood from the region. The glazing of the roof construction of the green center is equipped with high-quality triple-pane thermally insulating glass, and with a U-value of the glass of 0.7 W/m², it is highly thermally impermeable.

When selecting the construction companies, attention was paid to regionality; 95% of the companies were less than 30 km away.

Energy concept

In the area of heating and ventilation, the focus is on the following points. The use of two heat recovery tanks with direct condensation utilizes the waste heat generated by the refrigeration system to heat the domestic hot water and the heating system. The superheat and condensation heat is transferred to the heating water, while the cooler water in the heat exchanger is used for additional subcooling of the refrigerant. The Byodo refrigeration center is a compound system with capacity-controlled refrigeration compressors for the normal refrigeration range and frequency-controlled compressors for the deep-freeze range, from which the optimum refrigeration requirement is generated at all times with the lowest energy consumption. The energy saving of approx. 300,000 KW results in a CO2 reduction of approx. 200 tons per year. The basis for this is a groundwater heat pump in water-to-water operation. The room is cooled directly via the groundwater, with a temperature level of approx. 13° C degrees.

An additional PV system (263 kWp) with its own power supply and an in-house electric charging station (free of charge for our customers) round off the sustainable and regional energy concept.