What does it look like when a billion-dollar company saves energy? Deutsche Bahn gave the answer on Tuesday: pretty dark. So far, the glass headquarters of Deutsche Bahn on Potsdamer Platz in the middle of Berlin has been brightly lit until late in the evening. Before midnight, LED lights illuminate the facade. The group has now announced that they will no longer be switched on with immediate effect. Only the DB logo at the top of the Bahn Tower and the position lights for air traffic control would continue to shine.
In view of the global energy crisis, Deutsche Bahn, as the largest German electricity consumer, wants to become a pioneer in saving. However, the move is also likely to be a reaction to the wastefulness criticism of the company in the past few days. Because the glass headquarters was recently brightly lit, even though it is empty precisely because of the refurbishment. The 800 employees of the railway headquarters no longer sit in the striking glass building, but a few meters further in the neighboring Sony Center. Actually, one wanted to switch off earlier, but approvals and decision-making processes would have taken a little longer, according to the railways.
But now it should really start with the savings. All 200,000 Deutsche Bahn employees in Germany would receive “an energy bonus of 100 euros with the December wage payment,” announced HR Director Martin Seiler. If the idea is well received, the Executive Board will even top up the energy bonus to a one-off total of up to 150 euros. The Executive Board will decide by the end of the year whether the employees have done their utmost to save electricity.
Deutsche Bahn explained that the energy bonus was linked to a call to continue saving energy with creative ideas at the workplace. “We want all employees in Germany to become active, that all small and large levers are pulled in order to achieve significant savings in the end,” said Seiler. It’s about topics like lighting, heating, using air conditioning, refueling, “or maybe using the stairs instead of the elevator.” Even small savings added up to a significant amount given the size of the group and are an important lever for cushioning the rapidly increasing energy prices.
Corporations want to send employees to work from home to save energy
Other companies have other ideas. In order to save energy, they want to send their employees to the home office. After all, they have to heat their homes anyway and could save fuel that they would otherwise use for commuting. “Basically, working from home can help save energy, since office buildings do not have to be heated and electricity can also be saved there,” said Claudia Kemfert, an energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research. The Federal Minister of Economics also praises the idea. “The energy balance is positive when the offices are not heated and rooms are used that are heated anyway,” said Robert Habeck. The Federal Association of Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW) estimates that up to 3.7 million tons of greenhouse gases can be saved in road traffic by eliminating the need to commute to work.
High fuel prices: Everyone wants to save, but working from home is still controversial.
(Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa)
Falling energy costs are practical for corporations – and they also do well in the current political situation. “It is possible that we will reintroduce more home office for a limited period, as in the pandemic. But this time to save energy in the national interest,” said Carsten Knobel, head of consumer goods manufacturer Henkel, in an interview with the Rheinische Post. “We could then lower the temperature in the offices significantly, while our employees could heat at home to the normal extent.” The German Federation of Trade Unions, on the other hand, tweeted outraged: “More #homeoffice in winter to save #energy in the companies? Not like that.” “Energy shortages must not lead to home office being used to shift work costs – including heating the workplaces – to employees,” said DGB board member Anja Piel.
According to a newspaper poll Handelsblatt Among the 40 Dax companies, the first are planning to lower the room temperature in their offices for the winter, and working from home is also a new trend. At Bayer, for example, there are plans to lower the temperature at the German sites by at least one degree Celsius. Normal in winter are actually 20 to 22 degrees. The vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck even wants to lower the room temperature in its production halls and offices by two degrees at the start of the heating season. The insurance group Hannover Re is considering completely closing individual buildings in order to heat them significantly less and to send employees to the home office. “Now it’s time to exhaust everything that is compatible with the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance,” said Frank Mastiaux, head of the energy supplier EnBW.
However, the austerity measures have their limits, especially on the railways. In Germany, a minimum level of brightness is prescribed for safety and occupational health and safety reasons in train stations, trains and at workplaces. The company doesn’t want to change anything about that. In addition to the employee program, Deutsche Bahn has launched other measures. This includes, for example, energy-saving driving in long-distance and regional transport and the replacement of fossil-based heating systems with alternative heating systems. The railway consumes around ten terawatt hours of electricity every year – more than any other company. Gas accounts for six percent of the railway electricity mix, and coal for around 20 percent. The share of green electricity is more than 60 percent.