juwi wins German climate protection award

- Major German environment organization praises the company’s new energy-efficient headquarters


Woerrstadt/Berlin - At a ceremony in Berlin today, German environment organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (DUH) awarded the Climate Protection Award 2008 to the Wörrstadtbased juwi group for its extensive and forward-looking commitment to environment protection. Founded in 1996, the juwi group is one of the leading development companies for wind, solar and bioenergy projects. juwi is active around the world and currently employs more than 350 people. The DUH jury especially commended juwi’s outstanding and unique new office complex that opened for business in July 2008. The wood building was constructed by Austrian company GriffnerHaus AG and incorporates the most advanced climate protection and energy efficiency design. The annual German Climate Protection Award comes with a cash prize of EUR 10,000 and was presented this year for the second time.

DUH Secretary-General Rainer Baake said that the juwi group is part of the German renewable energy industry’s impressive success story. The company earned the award not only for its climate friendly work developing renewable energy power stations, he said; Even more key was the fact that "by designing and building the office complex in Wörrstadt, juwi is pursuing a wholly integrated approach to climate protection, which bears huge significance not only for the company’s own credibility but also for the new boom sector as a whole. We need companies like juwi that combine their economic success with their ecological roots," said Baake. That is key to maintaining the great public backing behind renewable energy sources even into the future, he added.

"We’re excited and thrilled. The climate protection award adds even more impetus to our mission of a completely renewable energy supply," said the proud juwi co-founders and CEOs Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung. The award demonstrates the high value that energy efficiency and renewable energy sources have – and must continue to have. "We have to budget the energy available to us much better than before if we want to protect the climate and ensure mankind’s energy supply. The more energy we save, the faster we can achieve a supply that is based completely on clean, renewable resources," stated Willenbacher. "With our new company headquarters in Wörrstadt, which is the most energy-efficient office building in the world, we’ve shown what is already possible if the will is there. Now such designs must become standard. The Climate Protection Award is an important step in that direction," Jung added.

The company’s new building complex in the south-western German town of Wörrstadt was finished in less than six months and reflects everything that must be done and must become standard for commercial buildings in this era of climate change. The building complex is designed to produce more energy than it consumes over the course of the year. It was also built with energy efficiency and climate protection in mind. Its primary energy needs (heating, hot water, electricity) are met with renewable sources (solar, wind and bioenergy). The building’s insulation meets the rigorous passive house standard and uses natural cooling and ventilation. For instance the cellar storage tank for the sprinkler system also serves as a cool water reservoir. During the day the cooled water flows through a floor piping system to cool the offices. There is also an intelligent energy management system that monitors consumption and switches various electrical devices on or off according to priority. The annual utility costs amount to about two euros per square meter. That’s ten times less than what it costs for an average single family home in Germany. Beyond that, juwi’s new headquarters offers the 300 people with jobs there new standards of living and working, including a children’s daycare center, a recreation room, a prayer and meditation room and also a soccer field and beach volleyball court.


Woerrstadt/Berlin, September 15th, 2008


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Attention editorial offices: For further questions please contact:


Mr. Christian Hinsch
Head of Communications juwi Holding AG
Energie-Allee 1
55286 Wörrstadt
Tel: 06732 - 96 57 1201
Fax: 06732 - 96 57 7001
Mobil: 0172 - 67 94 912
Mail: hinsch@juwi.de
Internet: http://www.juwi.de


Mr. Ralf Heidenreich
Press Officer juwi Holding AG
Tel: 06732 - 96 57 1207
Mobil: 0173 - 65 98 211
Mail: heidenreich@juwi.de


Dr. Gerd Rosenkranz
Deutsche Umwelthilfe
Policy and Press Director
Tel.: 0302400867-0
Mobil: 0171 5660577
Mail: rosenkranz@duh.de

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