IMD is a legal requirement that is introduced for both new and older apartment buildings from 1 July 2021. Each apartment must be equipped with individual meters in order for heating and hot water energy consumption to be measured per household and charged accordingly.
The background to this is that the EU wants to reduce energy consumption for mainly heating hot water in real estate, which in Sweden accounts for more than 20% of the carbon footprint from real estate.
Although the aim is good, it has been shown that IMD itself does not necessarily lead to either energy savings, reduced costs or reduced environmental impact. IMD is based on the fact that the consumer is expected to change his behaviour when consumption is measured at the individual level, which does not in itself mean a decrease in consumption. On the other hand, the installation of individual meters, mainly in older apartment buildings, is a costly measure.
The government has opened the door to an exemption from the requirements for IMD. The exemption applies to property owners and housing associations who, instead of IMD, implement other measures that are equally effective or provide higher energy savings than IMD. This gives completely new opportunities to invest in installing a system that really delivers real energy savings and thus reduced costs and reduced carbon footprint. Evertherm from Ecoclime is just such a system.
–The property owner or tenant-owner association can choose the Evertherm system instead of installing IMD and then achieve guaranteed energy savings and climate benefits, while reducing the annual costs of energy, service and administration as a result of IMD. This ultimately means that you do not have to increase rents for the tenants," says Lennart Olofsson, CEO of Ecoclime.
The cost savings also increase the property value more than the investment in Evertherm costs, which is not the case with IMD. This generally applies both in privately owned rental properties and in condominium properties with boarea (BOA) over 1500 m².
The Evertherm SEW system recycles more than 90% of the heat energy from the wastewater and recrators it in the property. This is, second only to air heat recovery, the most energy, climate and cost-effective action a property owner can take to improve the energy performance of an older building. The system is completely maintenance-free and has been developed through installations in wastewater treatment plants since 2013 and further for properties within several collaborative projects together with the European Regional Development Fund, Skanska, Stockholmshem, Växjöbostäder and Folkets Hus in Vilhelmina. Evertherm is now increasingly prescribed by property owners, developers and consultants for new real estate production as well as in ROT projects in older properties.
"Today we can present a complete energy concept where we guarantee energy efficiency and can also co-finance the investment. If all older properties in Sweden installed a plant that recycles over 90% of the energy in wastewater, we could save up to 3.7 TWh annually, according to external assessors. To produce the corresponding amount of energy with solar cells, investments in the order of SEK 40 billion are required," concludes Lennart.
New energy study: Sweden can save 3.7 TWh per year
With Evertherm's calculator, you can count on your potential cost and climate savings. Property owners and housing associations can see a simulation model for what result an investment in Evertherm's system would bring. By filling in the data, you get an automated answer with the attached return calculation.
