No more lighting for public buildings
In light of the current gas supply crisis, the city of Jena will refrain from lighting public buildings in the evening and at night in future.
"With this step, we as the city of Jena not only want to make a further contribution to saving energy, but also show that there is still potential for savings everywhere - be it in the public or private sector. Every saving that can be made, no matter how small, counts," emphasizes Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche.
"This small immediate measure is part of the holistic concept for overcoming the energy crisis in the city of Jena, which we are currently working on at full speed and which is currently in the final coordination stage," adds Benjamin Koppe, Head of the Security Department.
15 buildings without lighting
The lighting in a total of 15 municipal buildings will be switched off over the next few days. This will save around 30,000 kWh per year. This is roughly equivalent to the energy consumption of ten detached houses, each occupied by two people.
The following properties will no longer be illuminated in future:
- Göhre City Museum
- House on the wall
- Powder tower
- Johannistor with city wall
- Carmelite monastery
- Public bath
- Theater house
- Kassablanca Youth Club
- Fox Tower
- Sports forum Sports hall
- SBBS Volkmar Stoy School
- Jenaplan School
- Lobdeburg ruins
- Tea house Drackendorf
- Multi-purpose building in the Platanenstraße
The historic town hall is excluded from this measure. It will continue to be illuminated in the Ukrainian colors blue and yellow to underline the special significance of solidarity with Ukraine.
Successful energy management in the city of Jena
The city of Jena, together with its own enterprises KIJ (Kommunale Immobilien Jena) and KSJ (Kommunalservice Jena), has been committed to energy saving and climate protection for many years. When renovating and constructing new municipal buildings, KIJ was quick to implement forward-looking technologies such as geothermal energy, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy and heat pumps and to further develop the efficient operation of municipal properties with the help of building management systems. The city's balance sheet is correspondingly good in comparison with the rest of Germany. The administrative buildings in Jena, for example, consume on average 15 percent less energy per m² and year than the national average, while the school buildings even consume 22 percent less.
An important current project is the construction of a new central heating system by KSJ. All buildings on the KSJ premises at Löbstedter Straße 68 are expected to be heated with a mixture of solar thermal energy and biomass (wood chips) from the end of 2022. The wood chips will all come from the company's own tree and green space maintenance. A complex control system is used to operate the 440 KW wood chip heating system and the 230 KW solar thermal system via a 50,000 liter buffer storage tank.
Jena wants to become climate-neutral by 2035. A climate action plan is currently being drawn up for this purpose. The draft will be presented to the public on 07.09.2022 and, after final adjustments, submitted to the city council for approval.