Do we want to rely on sustainability – or should we also build sustainably?
Do we want to rely on sustainability – or should we also build sustainably?
The buildings sector in Germany generated around 62 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents in 2023 and is currently falling short of the targets set out in the German Federal Climate Change Act.1
We at Gira know that our contribution to other trades associated with buildings does not contribute much to this. However, we want to make a positive contribution in this regard by making new and existing buildings more durable, circular and energy efficient.
We are convinced that our smart building control solutions can offer significant added value when it comes to increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and acting as a future lever for decarbonisation. We develop our products with this in mind and provide evidence of their sustainability through certifications and life cycle assessments.
Energy efficiency through building automation.
According to current studies, the use of building automation offers great potential for increasing the energy efficiency of buildings.2 Smart Home and Smart Building applications can help to reduce energy consumption and costs. This primarily depends on how intelligently the individual technologies are deployed and configured within building projects.
The open KNX standard offers the greatest potential for efficiency. Devices from more than 600 manufacturers can be networked and coordinated with one another. This also makes it possible for customers to retrofit their own future-proof Smart Home without being bound by individual manufacturers.
However, even more basic functions, such as presence detectors or time switches, can increase energy efficiency in rented apartments or when retrofitted in existing apartments. The Gira System 3000 offers easily retrofittable switching inserts for light, blind and heating automation. These solutions can also help to increase the energy efficiency classification of buildings and help to meet the requirements of the German Buildings Energy Act (GEG Section 71a, DIN V 18599).3
“QNG ready” for Gira products for simplified building certification and funding programmes.
Would you like to have your building certified to the sustainability standards of the QNG quality label or the DGNB certificate in order to increase the value of your property or to benefit from funding programmes offered by KfW or the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (Federal Subsidy for Efficient Buildings)? We want to help you with this and have therefore had several Gira products and systems tested by the Sentinel Haus-Institut to ensure that they are free from harmful substances. Gira products that have been certified as healthy „Geprüft gesündere“ Gira Produkte now bear the “QNG ready” mark and can be freely used from the point of view of building certifications.
Life cycle assessment information for Gira products.
The life cycle assessment (LCA) is the tool that allows us to evaluate and compare the environmental performance of products. To this end, we test our products in accordance with ISO 14020, 14040/44 and EN 15804 (EPD) across their entire life cycle (cradle-to-grave).
Life cycle assessments therefore provide information about the environmental impact of our products from the extraction of raw materials to their disposal and recycling. This includes both their energy consumption and their carbon footprint (PCF). We want to share this information with you so that you can get an idea of the sustainability performance that can be achieved with our products.
Cradle-to-cradle. Thinking in circles.
“Eliminating the idea of waste means designing things, such as products, packaging and systems, in such a way that, from the very start, there is no waste.
”
Several Gira products are currently being certified in accordance with Cradle-to-Cradle Standard 4.0 to demonstrate their circular, environmental and social compatibility. These include the Gira SCHUKO socket outlet and design frames from our Standard 55, E2 and Gira F100 product lines.
