Former WW2 Air Raid Bunker Converted Into an "Energy Bunker" in Hamburg, Germany

HAMBURG, Germany, October 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Yesterday the German city of Hamburg officially launched its "Energy Bunker". Located in the district of Wilhelmsburg, the former air raid bunker has been transformed into an Energy Bunker as part of the 2013 International Building Exhibition Hamburg (IBA). This massive building, which had been derelict for several decades, now hosts a regenerative power plant supplying the surrounding area with green energy. The project is part of the "Renewable Wilhelmsburg" climate protection scheme, which aims to provide the 50,000 Wilhelmsburg residents with CO2-neutral electricity by 2025 and with climate-neutral heating by 2050.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131015/647351 )

The surrounding neighbourhood's household energy is generated by an efficient combination of energy sources: besides solar energy and biogas, the bunker also uses wood chips and waste heat from a nearby industrial plant, supplying heating energy to local households. The project's most innovative feature is its large-scale buffer storage facility with its 2 million litre capacity that integrates different eco-friendly heat and power units. The Energy Bunker also feeds the renewable power generated by its solar panels into Hamburg's electricity grid, thereby supplying 3,000 households with heat and 1,000 households with electricity. Erected in 1943 as an air raid bunker, the original building protected thousands of people from Allied air raids. Four years later, the British Army destroyed the bunker's interior by means of a controlled detonation. All that was left was the outer shell with its almost three meter thick walls. For almost 60 years, the building served as a war memorial and any further utilization of the premises was restricted to a few adjacent areas.  

The Energy Bunker is an integral part of the "Renewable Wilhelmsburg" climate protection scheme for Europe's largest river island with almost 50,000 residents. By the year 2050, Wilhelmsburg will be transformed into a climate-neutral district. The basis for this is provided within the framework of the International Building Exhibition (IBA), currently taking place in Hamburg. With its dedicated energy projects, the IBA is setting the groundwork for meeting Wilhelmsburg's total energy and heating requirements in a climate-neutral way by 2025 and 2050, respectively.

Another landmark project of the climate protection scheme is the "Energy Hill", a former toxic landfill site that has been transformed into a renewable energy hill that, using solar energy and wind power, supplies 4,000 households with electricity. Other pioneering projects include the "Energy Network Wilhelmsburg Central", which integrates energy-generating facilities from various buildings into one large "virtual" power plant, and the BIQ House, which is setting new standards as the world's first building to have a bioreactor façade. Microalgae are cultivated in the glass elements that make up the BIQ House's "bio skin". The house is part of the IBA "Building Exhibition within the Building Exhibition" project, which gives us a glimpse into urban life in the future. For more information, please visit http://www.iba-hamburg.de.

Media Contact:
Hamburg Marketing GmbH
Hamburg, Germany
Guido Neumann
Tel.:+49-40-300-51-581
[email protected]
Royalty-free photos available on request!

SOURCE Hamburg Marketing GmbH