New solutions for energy efficiency from the Ruhr Valley
The key figures make this clear: In the Environmental Economic Report 2022 of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, EEF stands for the third largest submarket. A quarter of its roughly 92,000 employees in the state work in the Ruhr region, and every fourth euro is generated here. Between 2010 and 2020, the market in the region grew by an average of 4.0 percent each year. In 2020, gross value added in the Ruhr was more than 1.6 billion euros for efficiency and savings.
How buildings are made energy efficient and climate resilient
Cities in particular are heating up. One focus is therefore on adapting settlements to the consequences of climate change. The construction sector therefore has a particularly strong influence on this market: Two out of three euros are spent on work that makes buildings energy-efficient and climate-smart. They start on the outside by insulating roofs and facades with sustainably produced materials or by greening them naturally. And they start on the inside by equipping residential buildings and factory halls with intelligent technology.
Another third of the future market for EEF is made up of innovations that make production processes and technologies more energy efficient. This is achieved, for example, by using waste heat, digital measurement and control technology, or intelligent circulation pumps.
As carbon dioxide emissions fall, so do energy costs
Thanks to the region's great innovative power, what is possible and what is economical is developing rapidly. In addition to the technical expertise to install the technology for better heating, ventilation or lighting, for example, companies offer comprehensive consulting services.
Using and saving energy more efficiently: This not only contributes to climate protection by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It also reduces the costs of those who have had to pay more and more for electricity, oil, and gas in recent years - be they private households or commercial businesses.
New Competence Core of the Ruhr Metropolis: Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection in Neighborhoods
The following applies to both: Those who can save money are more open to new ideas. These ideas are being tested in the densely populated Ruhr region with its large building stock, as if in a huge real laboratory. Here, experts from science, research and business are working closely together with great success. This has given rise to a new core of expertise for which the Ruhr Metropolis stands like no other region: the ability to convert and rebuild entire neighborhoods with a holistic view of the living, housing and working of the future in an energy-efficient and climate-friendly manner.
The Ruhr Metropolis does not keep this knowledge to itself. It is happy to share it: The products and services of our companies are in demand internationally. For example, mineral materials that insulate heat or cold better, as well as instruments that control production lines in an energy-efficient way, are among the top 10 export goods of the country and our region.
Environmental Economy Network
Greentech.Ruhr bundles this knowledge so that we can further expand it together. Already today, about every third company in our network comes from the future market of energy efficiency and energy saving.
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Image credit: Immo Wegmann