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Berlin´s Smart City quarter will be fully energy-efficient, using air-to-water heat pumps powered by photovoltaics for heat and hot water, with ground-breaking digital infrastructure to network systems, equipment and devices together.

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A future-focused residential quarter called Future Living Berlin is under construction in the Adlershof district, with 90 apartments and 10 commercial units covering an 8,000 square kilometre site. When finished, the quarter will be fully energy-efficient, using air-to-water heat pumps powered by photovoltaics for heat and hot water, with ground-breaking digital infrastructure to network systems, equipment and devices together.

The apartment buildings, which are being developed by GSW Sigmaringen within the framework of Berlin’s Smart City initiative, will come fully-equipped with smart devices such as televisions and speakers which are connected up via the Internet of Things.

Engineers and energy experts at Panasonic’s European Research and Development Centre near Frankfurt have developed intelligent energy management software to optimise the use of local, renewable energy from the grid. The controller modulates between photovoltaic modules, heat pumps and battery storage systems as required. The energy solutions are combined in the Aquarea Smart Cloud which will allow residents to monitor and control their electricity consumption. Additional energy-saving services such as shared washing machines and an in-house car sharing service will also be offered.