Author: Levke Maria Kehl

The DGNB building material passport

The DGNB building material passport – documentation for more closed-loop building

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

The building sector is undergoing a transformation, moving away from linear practices to a systematically circular economy. What sounds entirely logical and highly appealing in theory, however, has until now been a huge challenge in practice. The new building material passport, launched to coincide with our annual online conference, offers a key DGNB instrument for pulling together documentation that will provide important support with this transformation. Our aim is to establish a common basis in this area and create transparency. During the recent event, as well as discussing the content of the passport and different ways to use it, experts considered where to go next with this important document. We look back at the discussion.

Thomas Kraubitz was a member of the jury of the Green Solutions Awards 2020/21

“Sustainable building should be a sport for the masses”

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

Replicable solutions for sustainable and climate-friendly construction worldwide – projects that adhere to such principles are honoured by the international Green Solutions Awards. This year’s award ceremony took place on November 10 at the 26th Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Among the jury members was Thomas Kraubitz, Director and Head of Sustainability in Europe at Buro Happold, and a member of the DGNB board of directors. We spoke to Mr Kraubitz about recent developments in the industry worldwide and current trends in the area of sustainable building.

The myth of increased costs due to sustainable building

The myth of increased costs in sustainable building

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

“I would like to build more sustainably, but the costs…”: The fear of additional costs due to sustainability often leads to doubts and hesitations during planning and implementation. A new study from Denmark now shows with regard to new building construction that this is unfounded. Here it becomes clear: more sustainable does not equal more expensive. On the contrary.

Living Bridge Amsterdam

Vision of a living bridge in Amsterdam

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

Housing, park, bicycle and pedestrian bridge – the idea of the “Living Bridge Amsterdam” by Dominik Philipp Bernátek is all in one. A hybrid. A future vision of tomorrow’s architecture, which may offer new solutions in the face of increasingly dense cities. In our interview, the architect talks about the project, current challenges and his visions for our cities of the future.

Young professionals at the DGNB: “Be open and courageous!”

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

Networking – a buzzword that nowadays hardly any student or young professional can avoid. At the same time, many wonder whether it is worthwhile to get involved while still at university and whether they have a place between experienced professionals. We spoke with Kasimir Forth on this topic. The Managing Director of the Leonhard Obermeyer Center in Munich got in touch with the DGNB and its network when he was a student himself and continued to participate ever since. His answer: Absolutely!

Building sustainably worldwide

Building sustainably worldwide – while observing local differences

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

When it comes to cutting carbon emissions, buildings play a decisive role worldwide. There is considerable potential to improve the net emissions of environmentally harmful gases, not just when constructing buildings but also when operating them. What we need now is urgent action. The question is, what’s the best way to make the environment we build around ourselves ‘fit for the future’?

The Alnatura Arbeitswelt in Darmstadt, Germany

Sustainable building operations for satisfied users

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

Anyone wanting to future-proof their building operations and ensure they are focussed on climate protection must take a number of aspects into account, e.g. emissions caused, cost or location related risks – AND the needs of the users. Despite all ecological and economic considerations, it is important to maintain a holistic perspective. The DGNB System for Buildings in Use takes all of this this into account. It also considers three sociocultural and functional criteria, which we present in more detail in this blog, the final one in our blog series.

Denkraum München

Economically achieving climate neutrality in building operations

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

If you want to prepare buildings for the future and safeguard the value of your assets in the long term, you’ll need a property strategy that is not only geared to the challenges of climate protection, but also makes sense in economic terms. It will also need to weigh up opportunities and threats for each specific building. This is where the DGNB System for Buildings in Use comes in. We use nine criteria to focus the mind on all kinds of topics with a bearing on sustainability. In a series of blog posts, we describe why it makes sense for all building stakeholders to think more about these topics. In this second post, we consider the economically relevant factors.

Last yeas Winnder of the DGNB Sustainability Challenge

One year later: How the winners of the last DGNB Sustainability Challenge are doing

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

Building material recycling, gold of pleasure and green hydrogen: these elements gave three finalists of the DGNB Sustainability Challenge 2019 victory in their respective categories of research, innovation and start-up. It is now almost a year since their presentation at the DGNB Sustainability Day. Reason enough to take a look at how their innovations for more sustainability in the construction and real estate industry have developed since then.

Langes Haus

Using buildings and looking after the environment

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

There are roughly 20 million buildings in use in Germany alone – millions of properties that highlight so much potential to achieve our climate protection goals. The question is, where do we begin? Is there something every individual can do – in practical terms – to use or operate the buildings they own or occupy more sustainably? This is where the DGNB System for Buildings in Use comes in. We use nine criteria to focus the mind on all factors with a bearing on sustainability. In a series of blog posts, we describe why it makes sense for everyone with a stake in buildings to think more about these topics. In our first post, we look at the three criteria of buildings in use, which are relevant for the environment.

DGNB System for Buildings in Use

The path to making all existing buildings carbon-neutral

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

All existing buildings in use in Germany must be carbon-neutral by 2050. This is truly a Herculean task for the entire construction and real estate industry. For building owners, users and real-estate portfolio owners, this means their CO2 balance at the end of the year for ongoing building operations must be zero. For this to succeed, a targeted, holistic and, at the same time, building-specific approach to sustainable optimisation is needed. The system’s solution here is simple.

Elephant in the room

The elephant in the room – of sustainable architecture

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

“Sustainability in Architecture”: Under this heading guests from the fields of architecture, real estate, research and politics have discussed as part of the event series “Elephant in the room” at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (ABK). Among other things, they talked about the meaning of the term itself, the right adjusting screws and the question of where the symbolic elephants can be found in the room of sustainable architecture.

Eisbärhaus Bauteil A+B

Sustainability with top marks: highlights of 2019

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

A DGNB Certificate in Platinum means meeting the highest standards for holistic quality in all aspects of sustainability – for new buildings as well as buildings in use and urban districts. To kick off the new year, we would like to take time to look back at a few DGNB certification highlights of 2019 and use them as a source of inspiration for an ambitious 2020. Let’s get started!

Green Solutions Awards

Green Solutions Awards: worldwide role models of sustainable building

Published by Levke Maria Kehl

192 projects, 37 countries, 3 categories – these are the key statistics of the Green Solutions Awards, recently awarded in France to international beacon projects of sustainable building. The aim of the competition, which is backed by the DGNB, is to highlight reproducible examples of sustainable solutions in the construction sector and urban development industry. Allow us to introduce you to the winners across the main categories.