Single family homes vs. big houses

Houses built around 1960 in Germany had been a horror in nonexistent insulation. A typical 16-apartment block had been, at this time, between 160 and 220 kWh/a/m² heat demand and 60 to 80 m² per apartment. On the other side had been a single-family house with 250 to 300 kWh/a/m² heat demand and between 100 and 120 m² living space. So a family living in an apartment block had between 9,600 and 17,600 kWh heat demand, while the family in the single-family house had 25,000 kWh to 36,000 kWh heat demand.

In addition to the heat demand problem, owners of single-family houses had been more likely to have a car and to drive more km a year than people living in apartments. All energy had come in 1960 from distant power sources: hydropower plants and coal power plants. Coal power plants supplied by coal mines, and the cars supplied by refineries supplied by distant oil wells. There was only one thing a house could do about energy: consume less energy.

Based on these numbers evolved the idea that apartment blocks are good and single-family houses are bad. The first thermal insulation regulation was introduced in 1977 in Germany. All concentrated only on the heat energy demand: the passive house and the low-energy house. All the efforts had been towards nearly zero heat demand, with nearly no thought beyond.

Both apartments and single-family homes are now bigger but have improved much at lowering the heat demand.

-250% CO2 emission until 350 ppm are reached again
	Less CO2 emission is much too little, even zero emission is insufficient. Only a planet renovation with large-scale CO2 filtering and splitting from the atmosphere will help.

Filtering and splitting CO2 from the atmosphere
	Due to their enormous space and water requirements, plants are unsuitable for the necessary reduction of the CO2 content in the atmosphere. There is no room for 37 million km² of growing forest.

390 PWh/year electricity for CO2 from the atmosphere
	Reduce the CO2 content with Power to Carbon, generate fuels with Power to Liquid and use CO2 for indoor plant cultivation to replace large-scale agriculture.

Carbon fiber becomes standard material for construction
	If we filter the 33.1 Gt CO2 emission of 2019 from the atmosphere and split it into C and O, we get 9 billion tons of carbon. What to do with it?

IPCC Report 2021: “Net Zero Emissions” Fairy Tale and its Devastating Consequences
	Constantly contradicting itself, the IPCC 2021 report adheres to the completely inadequate “net zero emissions” target. This can only be thinking prohibitions.

Green dogmatism and the destruction of the German photovoltaic industry
	How the dogma “the demand for electricity will decrease” led to extremely wrong targets, which led to the destruction of the German photovoltaic industry in 2013.

Why Germany is failing in the energy transition
	In the first decade of the new millennium, Germany was the great role model in the energy transition, why, on the other hand, the current EEG policy leads to disaster.

Sri Lanka crisis 2022 example of oil exit failures
	Hit hard by the breakdown in tourism caused by COVID-19, the higher price of oil comes as the next blow. The serious failures of the industrialized countries.

Destructive cult prevents functional energy transition
	A horror novel about a world without renewable energy and recycling delayed a workable energy transition and thus effective climate protection by decades.

Functional energy transition vs. German energy transition
	We have to denounce very hard the grotesque German energy transition in order to turn all the enemies of this grotesque into fans of a functional energy transition.

Paradigm changes – Profitability transitions – Culture shocks
	We can neither achieve energy transition nor stop climate change if we do not constantly review all parameters and abandon unsuitable views.

Cost optimization — the key to energy transition and climate protection
	Paper written for the CORP.at conference March 22 to 25 2026 in Vienna. My 2025 participation was a last-minute action, but now I have much time to prepare the paper.

Abstract
	To meet the necessary cost optimization targets, we cannot hold the energy problem separate from all other problems: another major problem is housing.

Introduction
	Many imaginations about our future had been created in the past with completely different parameters. Unchecked conclusions from the past endanger our future with unbearable costs.

My personal experience with a profitability transition
	Birds can fly without knowing all the terms of aerodynamics. I reacted with my design change to an ongoing “profitability transition” without knowing the term at this time.

Energy transition
	The long way from random electricity from sun and wind towards 24×365 electricity. Overseen profitability transitions have to be considered as major accidents.

The GEMINI principle: double usage of land
	No better solar power plant, no better housing possible on the same ground is the ultimate target of the GEMINI principle.

Energy-intensive industry
	News and statements on current topics concerning the energy transition, climate protection and the necessary development towards worldwide wealth.

Agriculture: How many square meters does a human need for his food?
	Mankind started as hunters and gatherers. 12,000 years ago, 500,000 m² to 2,500,000 m² per human. With the agricultural revolution, the land use was reduced by 2 magnitudes.

Conclusion
	News and statements on current topics concerning the energy transition, climate protection and the necessary development towards worldwide wealth.

References
	News and statements on current topics concerning the energy transition, climate protection and the necessary development towards worldwide wealth.