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High-Tech Tools Give German Engineers Low-Tech Solutions

By Sara Hart

The climate-control engineers at Transsolar Energietechnik in Stuttgart, Germany, had two primary goals in mind when they set out to plan an energy-efficient complex for Norddeutsche Landesbank. The first priority was to surpass the 1997 German insulation regulations by 10 percent, and then to create environmentally sensitive measures at a reasonable cost. According to Peter Voit, project leader for Transsolar, because energy consumption for winter heating is comparatively low, attention was focused on the reduction of costlier environmental necessities—ventilation, cooling, and lighting.

Harnessing natural ventilation to cool the offices rather than installing air-conditioning was a logical choice, since temperatures in Hannover only rise above 72 degrees Fahrenheit about 5 percent of a year. However, this strategy is much more complex than merely installing operable windows. Specifying the optimal glazing systems requires careful study of the weather, solar radiation, and daylighting routines, as they impact each other’s effectiveness.