To Renovate with Common Sense - Building of Tomorrow - A Film Project

Status

ongoing

Summary

Motivation

It is a pleasing trend when more and more family houses are built on energy efficient passive house level. Nevertheless, from an energy policy perspective this means only a drop in a bucket, because more than half of the heating energy consumption is spent in leaky apartment houses built in the Sixties and Seventies.

Austria plays a leading role in innovative thermal renovation and energy efficient construction engineering as many "Building of Tomorrow" projects have demonstrated.

Contrary, many tenants, property managers and building promoters share a widespread scepticism concerning the idea of passive house standards. The concerns begin with uncertainties about the handling of ventilation, ending with doubts on the cost effectiveness of expensive rebuilding. Finally many projects collapse because of the lacking accordance of the house owners. And if a project gets started, some isolate tenants can delay the process for month and even years. In fact, however, a well organized renovation project pays back within a few years and helps to reduce the heating bill up to 90 percent and even more.

The successive renovation of structure and function of the existing communal buildings would be a big step to overcome the dependence on exhaustible resources and fossil fuels. It would also be a chance to do the countries bit in the aims of the Kyoto conference from 1997. So far, Austria has not achieved some of the main objectives in reduction of NOx and carbon dioxide emissions

Climate change and the complex problems with the adjustment of new techniques of renewable energy will also be part of the film and clarify the pulsating environmental background which typifies a changing of the guards in energy policy.

Goals of the project

Objective of the project is the production of a professional high-quality documentary film about the enormous environmental and economic potential of thermal renovation of matured apartment houses and tenement blocks in Austria.

Another target is the presentation of the innovative scientific performance and the high standard of domestic technology in practice. Hereby the film can help to overcome concomitant concerns and fears of residents. Besides the film project is a documentation of the strategy and concrete process of thermal renovation on passive house level together with the residents whose accordance is required.

The film shall further communicate the efforts of the research program "Building of Tomorrow" to the public and boost the understanding of the true potential of innovative renovation in Austria.

Methodological approach

A six month lasting thermal renovation on passive house level of a big apartment house complex is the framework of the film plot: From the involvement of the initially pretty sceptical residents to the practical realisation and the answers to the technical challenges.

In subplots the film portraits the technical characteristics of three further "Building of Tomorrow" renovation projects and shows the environmental background of global energy policy to achieve the goals of Kyoto.

The project team consists of renowned documentary film-maker which secures high quality and efficient work as well as good connections to all kinds of media.

The quality and up-to-date accuracy of technical information is secured by experts in the fields of structural engineering architecture and social moderation techniques who are integrated into the project.

Results

• TV-Documentary 45min (German/English)
• Construction documentation from the main project 20min (German/English)
• Trailer 90sec (German/English) downloadable from the HdZ-homepage
• Film and construction documentation will be available on digital video disk.

Project management

Bert Ehgartner
Filmproduktion Ehgartner

Project or cooperation partner

• Österreichisches Ökologie Institut
  DI Georg Tappeiner
  Robert Lechner
• Filmproduktion Giczy
  Peter Giczy

Filmproduktion Ehgartner
Johannesberg Straße 6
3041 Starzing
phone: +43 (2772) 55183-1
fax: +43 (2772) 55183-4
mobile: +43 (676) 7000 499
e-mail: info@ehgartners.info
webseite: www.ehgartners.info