This afternoon not a single cloud hangs in the sky over Ottobrunn. The sun can therefore unfold its full power. Florian Schardt’s app shows that the photovoltaic system, which has been in operation on the roof of his house since July, is currently producing 9.84 kilowatt hours of electricity – and that 6.27 kilowatts are being drawn off at the same time. “That’s the car that’s just hanging on it,” explains the SPD faction spokesman in the Munich district council, while carefully observing the charging process. If a cloud were to pass by now, electricity production would immediately fall below six kilowatts. “Exciting,” says Schardt. “So I charge the car according to the weather forecast.” Since the beginning of 2021, he has been driving his e-car for business, which he charges at home using the PV system.
Florian Schardt, head of the SPD district parliamentary group, now uses an electric car for business.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Since the war in Ukraine and the gas shortage, there has been a lot of talk about saving energy and personal responsibility, and politicians are being watched because of their role model function – at federal, state and local level. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the Greens wants to set a good example and recently announced as a personal measure that he intends to further reduce his personal shower time and further reduce the water temperature. A suggestion that has also brought him some ridicule.
Kirchheim’s Mayor Maximilian Böltl now showers colder.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Kirchheim’s mayor Maximilian Böltl, a member of the CSU, can warm to the proposal of the prominent Greens: “Always take a cold shower!” is his motto. And otherwise: “Turn the heating down. Especially during the day when you’re not at home anyway.” The former also strengthens the immune system. Of course, that’s easy to say at this time of year. Anton Hofreiter from Unterhaching also holds it with Habeck and Böltl. The best-known Greens politician from the Munich district is currently on vacation, but his spokesman says he prefers the “k-and-k method” – i.e. short and cool. According to the member of parliament, he developed a sport from this: before and after he takes a shower, he takes a look at the water meter – on average he only needs six to ten liters.
Green politician Christoph Nadler believes that saving energy doesn’t have to be self-torture
But there are also politicians who think beyond the daily shower process – such as Florian Schardt. The Social Democrat uses two heat pumps for heating: a groundwater pump for the underfloor heating and a second that uses the exhaust air from the kitchen and bathroom to heat the water. The Ottobrunner is currently waiting for an electricity storage device for his photovoltaic system; He ordered it last fall, but the delivery times are currently long. “Overall, with PV, storage and heat pumps, we will probably be 70 to 80 percent self-sufficient, we will only know for sure after the winter,” said the SPD district councilor. The family man also wants to turn the temperature controller in autumn and winter, because every degree saves money. According to calculations, about six percent of heating costs.
Free voter district councilor Otto Bußjäger uses the garden for self-sufficiency.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Sheep have also made themselves comfortable with him.
(Photo: private)
“Every kilowatt hour saved and every kilometer not driven counts,” says Otto Bußjäger. He and his wife Alexandra have been doing without vacation flights for years, says the Free Voters District Council from Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn. And on the freeway, the speedometer stays at 120. “Basically, we have been living in a resource-saving way for years by buying and wearing durable clothing, driving vehicles for more than ten years and, to a large extent, growing ourselves with vegetables, fruit and even meat from the local garden supply,” says Grasbrunn’s former mayor. The sheep are grazing behind the house, the Bußjäger home is heated and cooked with wood if possible, and the heating system will soon be renewed and supported by a solar system.
Power generator: The CSU member of parliament Florian Hahn relies on the photovoltaic system on his own roof.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Florian Hahn from Putzbrunn already has them on the roof, and the solar panels produce more electricity than the family uses in the house, says the CSU member of the Bundestag from Putzbrunn. “In addition, I switched to a hybrid car a year ago and have been using the train to and from Berlin almost exclusively for the past two years.” And when it gets cooler in autumn and winter, he will save on heating and hot water consumption.
Spins less when washing: Claudia Köhler, member of the Greens in Unterhaching.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Claudia Köhler doesn’t want to do without warm water entirely. “I continue to take warm showers, but much shorter than I used to,” says the Green Party member from Unterhaching. But Köhler makes it clear through the little things that everyday life is already changing. The Unterhachingerin woman now runs the washing machine with significantly fewer spin speeds, the laundry is dried on the stand outdoors and the laundry is hung up neatly so that it does not have to be ironed as much, as the mother of three grown sons says. “All the gas saved goes into storage for the winter. And if a lot of people participate, that makes a big difference,” she says.
For two years she and her family have also been trying to install a photovoltaic system on the roof of the terraced house. “But there were really a lot of hurdles that will hopefully fall now,” she says. And even before Russia attacked Ukraine, the Koehlers signed a contract to connect to geothermal energy. “This will probably be the most effective measure to save fossil energy and heat efficiently,” said the MP.
Natascha Kohnen has been without a car since 2021.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
In Neubiberg, on the other hand, an air heat pump is used for heating – at least in Natascha Kohnen’s house. Ten years ago, the SPD member of parliament had her house energetically renovated: from the roof to the facade to the windows and the front door. Since then, the former boss of the Bavarian comrades has lived in an “efficiency house,” as she puts it. “So energetically well reduced. I’m just planning how I can reduce water consumption,” says Kohnen on the phone. It will probably amount to a little renunciation, which can already be observed in Kohnen’s garage: the social democrat has not had a car since 2021.
Christoph Nadler still heats with gas, but turns the system down at night.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Christoph Nadler, spokesman for the Greens in the district council, does not want to do without this entirely; but at least he ordered an electric car, says Taufkirchner. With the petrol engine that he and his wife currently own, they would only drive a maximum of 10,000 kilometers a year. Otherwise, they used the MVV annual ticket and the Bahncard intensively. The Nadler home is still heated with gas, the new heating system is only three years old and consumes a third less than the old one. Nadler can control consumption flexibly and individually using an app. During the day it is heated to a maximum of 20 degrees, at night the heating is switched off. “This means that we only have the energy consumption of a one-person household overall,” says the Green. A PV system on the roof also generates more electricity than the family consumes. And all power guzzlers such as washing machines and dishwashers are up to date.
And then Nadler says another sentence that probably not all friends of warm showers would subscribe to: “Saving energy has nothing to do with self-torture, it’s fun.”