(Nanowerk News) Sustainable building is a critical task when it comes to reducing global energy consumption and preserving our natural resources. Furthermore, measures designed to increase energy efficiency cut costs during the building occupancy phase, meaning they offer homeowners and tenants economic advantages. While Germany has been constructing primarily new buildings according to improved standards for some time now, the larger emerging countries such as Russia still harbor tremendous potential for saving energy in the building sector.

The First Russian/German Innovation Forum, “Energy 2020: Ideas, Technologies and Services,” held recently in Moscow, catered entirely to the plans of both countries to intensify collaboration in the field of sustainable building. The EcoCommercial Building Program, initiated by Bayer MaterialScience, also was introduced to the nearly 200 participants. This global network of experts is committed to the planning and construction of tailored, energy-optimized buildings that adhere to a holistic concept.

In view of the relatively limited funds budgeted in Russia over the next few years for reaching energy efficiency objectives, it is critical there to offer very simple but intelligent solutions for tangibly reducing energy consumption. “By cleverly combining existing material developments and technologies, both energy consumption and costs can be reduced significantly, and that benefits the environment, too,” says Maxim Grishin, market manager of the EcoCommercial Building Program in Russia. “In particular, these include insulation solutions based on polyurethane and the use of renewable energy.” The more than 50 partners involved in the program worldwide were represented at the forum by ThyssenKrupp, Uponor and Stiebel Eltron, among others.

Participants in the Innovation Forum agreed to intensify collaborative efforts with the aim of exploiting energy saving potentials in Russia as effectively as possible. With its first local building projects, the EcoCommercial Building Program already has demonstrated that it is also capable of offering and implementing efficient and economical solutions in Russia.