Construction is about to commence on a greenfield development in the town of Radolfzell on Lake Constance that hopes to become “Germany’s first climate-neutral business park.” The Clean Energy Park Blurado aims to supply its commercial tenants and farming businesses with energy from 100 percent renewable sources using a so-called “cold local heating network” together with photovoltaic (PV) systems.

The park’s buildings will extract the heat and cooling that is needed from the surrounding fields using a “geothermal collector” – environmental heat aggregation pipes that are installed about two metres below the earth’s surface and therefore present no obstruction to agriculture. Heat pumps will convey the heat to the surface. The electricity to run the heating network will be supplied by PV systems on the roofs, which will also cover part of the businesses' electricity needs.

"Modern neighbourhoods and business parks of tomorrow are smart, green and efficient – the new Clean Energy Park Blurado is an absolute showcase project in this respect," comments Michael Lowak, the CEO of Real Estate Business at GETEC Group (the park’s energy service partner), in a joint press release. The project advisors include Constance University of Applied Sciences through its departments of energy-efficient construction and business administration, the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Schäffler Sinnogy and WEBW neue Energie GmbH.

Apart from low energy costs and decent transport connections (the park is roughly an hour’s drive from airports of Friedrichshafen and Zurich), Blurado is hoping to lure tenants with the prospect of greater quality of life in an area of natural beauty which calls itself “a living environmental city.” A new Baden-Württemberg state subsidy for efficient buildings (BEG) has helped to make the innovative energy concept possible.