Everyone is talking about the increasing costs of energy, so sustainable concepts for saving energy are in greater demand than ever before. The other side of the coin is that the consumption of fossil primary energies, such as oil, gas or coal, has far-reaching and ultimately dire consequences for the environment. Investment in innovative technologies in the energy sector thus pays off twice over.

This is where HOCHTIEF expertise comes in: the company's integrated service offering, which covers the entire life cycle of infrastructure projects, real estate and facilities, is being steadily extended to enable clients to save energy and increase energy efficiency.

For example through HOCHTIEF Energy Management. Its business focuses on the responsible utilization of resources. This company, which is already one of the Top 10 in its sector, offers its clients what is called energy contracting. This is geared to reducing consumption and thus cutting energy costs. At the same time it eases the burden on the environment.

In the growing market for revitalizing older properties, HOCHTIEF networks the know-how of the specialists in the various corporate units. It now, for instance, offers building diagnosis to give clients a comprehensive analysis of the condition of their properties and enable them to decide on which option to choose: refurbishment and upgrading or new construction.

Take a look at the convincing range of what HOCHTIEF units offer in the field of saving energy.

Energy efficiency: Saving costs for budgets of all sizes

An odd situation: on the one hand "Made in Germany" is still a seal of quality in worldwide demand, on the other, more and more firms in Germany are facing hard times. One key reason for this is the huge increase in the price of energy, which naturally makes manufacturing processes more expensive. Another factor is that in the past, many companies focused investment purely on production engineering and neglected their energy systems. As a result, many of the relevant facilities are nowadays antiquated.

Reducing energy costs calls for optimizing such systems–or installing new and more efficient systems. But investments of this kind channel money away from a company s core business. This creates a dilemma.

This is a field where HOCHTIEF Energy Management can help. In the framework of what is called energy contracting, it identifies and implements innovative and effective cost-cutting methods. The requisite investment–for instance for new technical facilities–is financed from the money which the new facilities help to save.

The advantages for clients: they reduce their energy consumption and thus their costs, and these costs are also made more transparent. In addition, it is the contractor–in other words HOCHTIEF Energy Management–which bears the technical and commercial risks involved. Then there is the benefit for the environment–which can help clients to improve their ecological image.

Further information: Energy management

The client saves–guaranteed

HOCHTIEF Energy Management (HTEM) offers its clients three main contractual options: energy supply contracting, performance contracting and full-service contracting.

Prior to taking on an assignment, HTEM carries out a thorough analysis of whether it is economical. For this, it conducts a rough analysis of the condition of the client's existing facilities, the degree of capacity utilization and the scale of energy consumption. Subsequently, the HOCHTIEF experts calculate the savings potential and the requisite investment.

If a project offers pay-off potential both for the client and for HTEM, the next step is a precise analysis to develop the concrete savings concept. The questions to be answered: What do the future energy and operating costs comprise? How high is the actual savings guarantee?

Throughout this phase, the company works in close cooperation with the client and then submits a binding offer. The contracts involved usually have a duration of 10 to 15 years. Although energy is saved right from the start, it takes several years to recoup the high purchase and refurbishment costs of the technically highly complex installations. But the savings are substantial. The Augsburg Klinikum, for instance, saves around EUR 2.65 million a year and thanks to HOCHTIEF Energy Management really benefits from the performance contracting arrangement it has concluded.

Energy supply contracting: Recycling surplus energy

By far the most customary type of agreement with clients is energy supply contracting. This entails the provision of what is called useful energy, i.e. steam, heat, cold or compressed air, for production purposes or downstream services. HOCHTIEF Energy Management replaces or modernizes out-moded installations and subsequently operates the new or optimized systems.

So from this point on, clients–generally industrial firms or public authorities–no longer need to concern themselves with energy procurement and can instead concentrate entirely on their core business. One example: Benecke-Kaliko AG in Eislingen, which manufactures automotive film. In January 2004, HTEM took over the provision of energy for this company's industrial operations. As a first step, the HOCHTIEF experts installed a new energy control center. This enables the client to save so much money that it was ready to take over the acquisition costs itself–a hefty EUR 3.7 million.

HTEM then purchased an exhaust air cleaning facility and installed a water treatment plant to obtain cooling water from the nearby river. Since then, the company specialists have been operating the facilities themselves and supplying the plant with useful energy and key media.

All this has enabled Benecke-Kaliko to reduce its annual operating and energy costs by more than 15 percent. Moreover, its carbon dioxide emissions have been cut by 2,800 tons a year, while the emission of solvents of the kind associated with the production of industrial film has been almost halved.

Another impressive example of successful energy management contracting is Saint-Gobain Glass Germany. More information

Performance contracting: Where investments pay off

For the Student Union of Mainz University, for instance, this has really paid off. In July 2005, the university concluded an energy performance contract with HOCHTIEF Energy Management for the university refectory. Since then, it has halved its energy consumption and reduced the emission of carbon dioxide by 45 percent. To achieve this, the company experts installed a new steam generating facility for cooking and dish-washing and state-of-the-art instrumentation and control technologies. They also carried out modernization measures in the fields of ventilation, heating, refrigeration and water. More

The overall concept, which includes operation of the facilities, earned the Student Union the Energy Plus Quality Seal of the Rheinland-Pfalz Ministry for the Environment.

Full-service contracting: All from a single source

As the name suggests, full-service contracting–the third form of contractual arrangement offered by HOCHTIEF Energy Management–covers almost everything: the provision of useful energy and the modernization and operation of the relevant installations.

NXP Semiconductors Germany GmbH, for instance, has been benefiting from full-service contracting since mid-1998. For HTEM, the first step was to purchase the requisite facilities. It carried out essential refurbishment work and took over operation. In addition, the company specialists provide the semiconductor plant with such media as compressed air, cold, steam and technical gases.

The client is so happy with what HTEM does for it that it has inquired about the company s other services. That is a feature of this form of assignment: it always includes scope for additional services.

At NXP Semiconductors, for instance, HOCHTIEF now handles up to a hundred different functions. It is responsible, for instance, for the huge chemicals depot and maintains an inventory of up 1,000 substances in quantities ranging from just drops to several tons , in order to be able to supply them just in time. Within the plant itself, there is no space for this.

Energy services: Power consumption figures at the click of a mouse

The HOCHTIEF energy experts do far more than just supply clients with power–they also make energy consumption more transparent. One key tool here is the EnBIS portal, a web-based energy billing and Information system (www.enbis.com).

This gives clients–whether from the public sector or industry–easy access to all information concerning their energy consumption and energy costs. EnBIS provides depictions of the consumption of electricity, water, gas or any other media, for an entire plant or just a part of it, for a specific location or the company as a whole. It also shows the development of the relevant costs. EnBIS is basically similar to an online banking account and can be accessed at any time, from anywhere. Even tiny changes in consumption are displayed precisely, and if there are severe fluctuations, this facilitates the identification of possible sources of error, enabling counter-measures to be taken swiftly.

The services provided by HOCHTIEF Energy Management cover a very wide field and are much in demand. This is especially the case when questions arise concerning energy taxation or emissions trading. In this field, HOCHTIEF can help to optimize a client's tax load or administer the emissions certification procedure for plants which generate electricity or heat.

In addition, the unit makes its know-how and market knowledge available to external energy clients. For instance, it advises and assists clients in energy procurement matters by helping with invitations to tender or the contractual negotiations. If required, HTEM can also operate as an energy supply company.

Building diagnosis: Energy update for older properties

A great many commercial properties and private homes in Germany are more than 25 years old. This means that in most cases they lack not only comfort and convenience but also modern building services of the kind which would enable them to save energy.

Studies indicate that there is potential in Germany for saving around EUR 40 billion a year in heating costs and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 150 million tons a year. The prerequisite: refurbishing older properties in a way that takes energy factors into greater consideration.

Here, HOCHTIEF can help by means of building diagnosis. This offers clients a comprehensive analysis of their properties and represents a field where know-how from different corporate units is systematically focused to provide an integrated service offer. If required, recommendations can be made for optimizing and revitalizing properties. In some case, though, the best option is to construct something new.

Sustainable buildings–Greater value for clients

Building diagnosis from HOCHTIEF is not just an integrated service offer, it also represents genuine teamwork. The process starts with the asset management services unit of HOCHTIEF Property Management. This analyzes the location, the market situation and the property's cost-efficiency and draws up concepts for sustainable operation. This provides an important basis for decision–making on building revitalization–always with the aim of increasing a property's asset value.

With its energy contracting services, HOCHTIEF Energy Management identifies and implements innovative and cost-efficient savings possibilities. The requisite investment costs, for instance for any new technical installations which may be needed, are financed through the savings.

The building experts from HOCHTIEF Construction examine the structural fabric and condition of existing properties. Then, HOCHTIEF Consult prepares concepts for sustainable architecture, the load-bearing structure and electrical and mechanical installations. The Frankfurt unit of HOCHTIEF Consult also offers special advisory services for the fields of geothermal energy, solar energy and heat pump systems. Another HOCHTIEF Consult service is the provision of know-how on state-of-the-art technologies such as latent storage devices PCM, insulating materials, sun-shielding and daylight control systems, concrete core activation, night-time cooling, surface heating and cooling systems and building automation.

Specialists from HOCHTIEF Facility Management inspect a property's building services and examine the operating costs. They draw up and implement savings proposals for clients and then handle the management of the property or facility concerned in a way geared to cutting energy consumption.

In the future, an innovative technology called Virtual Design and Construction (ViCon) will be used right from the design and planning phase. It provides virtual scenarios and models which permit precise calculations of later energy consumption.

Lowering energy consumption–Learning lessons from schools

Implementing HOCHTIEF proposals for sustainable buildings increases a client's chances of achieving an attractive price on subsequent sale or letting.

Public-private partnership projects can also benefit from HOCHTIEF's integrated range of services for energy-related building refurbishment. Company specialists develop the existing properties of public-sector partners and achieve substantial reductions in energy consumption. One example is the schools project in the rural district of Offenbach, where HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions operates a total of 50 schools. Since the project commenced in 2005, it has cut carbon dioxide emissions by 18 percent. Fresh evidence that innovative models can succeed in saving energy.