Property owners’ engagement in the energy transition

The municipality of Thalwil plans to shut down its gas network entirely by 2045. This shutdown is necessary to meet the national energy transition targets and drastically reduce the negative impacts of fossil-based heating systems on the global climate.

Since three out of four heating systems in Thalwil still run on natural gas or heating oil, a lot needs to change in the next 20 years. The municipal gas supplier needs to change its business model from selling gas to selling heat, the municipality needs to invest in the necessary infrastructure, and many property owners need to change their heating technologies.

With anticipatory energy planning, under the RRI-LEADERS territorial foci, the municipality defined priority and suitability areas for various alternative heating technologies. The energy plan considers the settlement structure, future developments and the locally available energy potential.

The energy plan defines neighbourhoods suitable for district heating. These areas have a high density of heat demand and a heat source nearby.

To engage property owners early in this transformation process, the municipality launched an innovative web portal with spatial visualisation of the energy plan. Address-specific queries show the most suitable climate-friendly heating system for each property in Thalwil.

Furthermore, interested parties will find detailed answers to questions about climate-friendly heating, current information about planned or already implemented projects of the municipality, and the responsible contact persons of the municipality.

The web portal will be used to provide continuous information about further planning steps. In the first week after the launch, the municipal administration was contacted by numerous property owners willing to take action and requesting further information.

The web portal: https://energie.thalwil.ch/ (in German)

More information: https://www.thalwil.ch/energieplanung (in German)