The energy-efficient refurbishment of buildings is expensive, time-consuming – and often inefficient. In view of ambitious climate targets and limited financial resources, the housing industry is now calling for a radical change of course: away from costly facade insulation and towards intelligent, technology-supported CO₂ reduction in the boiler room. This is the clear appeal made by Axel Gedaschko, President of the GdW, and Dr. Thomas Hain, Managing Director of Nassauische Heimstätte | Wohnstadt, in an interview on the occasion of the upcoming “Initiative Wohnen.2050” (IW.2050) conference.

Paradigm shift in climate policy: CO₂ reduction instead of mandatory insulation

“The previous measures focusing on maximum energy efficiency are not effective,” Gedaschko makes clear. Joining forces with the “Practical path to CO₂ reduction” initiative shows that new standards are needed - the goal is not more renovation depth, but CO₂ avoidance at the lowest possible financial cost. Dr. Hain adds: “A purely energy efficiency-based approach is far too expensive and ultimately leads to less climate protection with limited resources.” 

Buildings should be modernized in a targeted and needs-based manner instead of carrying out costly complete renovations. The focus should be on replacing components only when they have reached the end of their service life, according to the practical path initiative.

Boiler room instead of envelope: technology as the key to climate neutrality

The key message from the industry leaders: climate neutrality can only be achieved with a decarbonized heat supply - and at a reasonable cost. The focus must be on heat pumps, renewable energies and intelligent building control, not on complete refurbishment or new builds. Practical experience shows that emission-free heat supply is technically and economically possible while reducing the depth of investment. 

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IW.2050 shows alternatives

IW.2050 and the Praxispfad initiative have been working on alternative strategies for some time now. Their message: climate targets can also be achieved with low-investment measures. The prerequisite is a focus on efficient systems and technologies – and not on compliance with outdated efficiency standards. The upcoming revision of many climate strategies should take precisely this into account.

Investing in technology instead of complete renovation

The housing industry is at a turning point. The alliance between science, industry and practice proves that the decarbonization of the building sector must not be achieved through insulation, but through digital, decentralized and regenerative technologies.

For companies like PAUL, which focus on decentralized, technology-supported solutions in the building sector, these developments are groundbreaking. PAUL Net Zero combines heat pumps, photovoltaics and AI-regulated heating control to create a system that enables CO₂ neutrality in existing buildings - without expensive refurbishment.

The model therefore corresponds exactly to the new vision propagated at the IW.2050 congress: Efficiency through smart technology instead of cost-intensive interventions in the building envelope.

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