Written on Modified on
In cooperation with Siemens Smart Infrastructure, Alpentherme Gastein is undertaking various modernization efforts to make one of Austria’s largest spas emissions-free.
Alpentherme Gastein in Bad Hofgastein, Austria
- Alpentherme boosts energy efficiency and climate neutrality
- Annual cost savings of more than €80,000 through comprehensive modernization efforts
Alpentherme Gastein, which has six themed “worlds” covering 36,000 square meters, and Siemens have been long-term partners working to advance technological development and improve building solutions installed at the wellness establishment. They recently completed a joint project with an investment of approximately €1.7 million, transforming Alpentherme Gastein into a state-of-the-art facility with higher levels of energy efficiency and climate neutrality. Among other things, the upgrades consisted of adapting the entire hydronic heating system and swimming pool ventilation, including enlarging the heating registers. Adapting the system hydronics allows a large share of the required thermal energy to be generated by means of low-temperature heat pumps. This makes it possible to use recovered thermal energy sources and reduce energy generation costs. As a result, Alpentherme has cut its annual costs by approximately €82,000 while reducing carbon emissions by almost 370 tons per year.
“Environmental protection and sustainability are buzzwords that capture the spirit of the times, but they’ve been firmly anchored in our corporate philosophy for decades. As a sustainable company, we also want to be a pioneer in terms of energy efficiency. Our major goal is becoming a ‘zero-emissions spa’,” said Klaus Lemmerer, Managing Director of Alpentherme Gastein in Bad Hofgastein.
“Thanks to the recently completed energy efficiency project and the technical facility improvement measures implemented in recent years, Alpentherme Gastein is a model in terms of energy efficiency, resource conservation and climate neutrality. As a total provider of sustainability projects and energy efficiency solutions, we are particularly proud to count Alpentherme Gastein among our long-standing customers and partners,” said Henning Sandfort, CEO of Building Products at Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
The next goal is to operate Alpentherme Gastein as a “zero-emissions spa.” This means making the entire heat supply carbon-free using power from renewable energy sources – by means of a heat pump powered by green electricity – as well as thermal water.
New comprehensive measures are in progress to support the spa in achieving this goal. Building automation has already been migrated to the existing measurement and control technology and expanded. In the future, all building processes at Alpentherme Gastein will be visualized and optimized using Desigo CC, which is the technological backbone for smart building infrastructure. It enables communication between the various energy producers through an open, powerful and always up-to-date platform, increasing convenience, efficiency, resilience and security.
In order to continuously optimize and increase the performance of the technical systems in terms of functionality and energy efficiency, Siemens Navigator will be used to map and evaluate energy consumption and operating situations. Siemens Navigator combines a variety of plant and maintenance information with performance data, allowing unnecessary energy consumption to be detected and improved immediately.
In the previous modernization project, Siemens building technology experts combined advanced technology and a maximum feel-good factor for guests in just ten months. The solutions are now being optimized even further to transform Alpentherme Gastein into one of the first “zero-emissions spas” in Austria.
For more information on Siemens Smart Infrastructure, see www.siemens.com/smart-infrastructure
