Rheine. For more than 15 years now, the city of Rheine has been very successfully stepping up its measures to reduce energy consumption for climate protection reasons. Good examples of this are:
- The already well advanced conversion to LED lighting in all municipal buildings. These are equipped with motion sensors and daylight-dependent control.
- Much of the street lighting has also already been converted to LED lighting. In addition, some of the lights are switched off at night.
- In all renovations, conversions, additions and new buildings, various heating systems are considered where necessary. Priority is given to systems that require no fossil fuels or at least greatly reduced fossil fuels. A combined heat and power plant, which is shared with the outdoor swimming pool, was already installed in 2012 during the renovation of the Kopernikus Gymnasium.
- Since 2011, the gymnasium of the Euregio Comprehensive School has been heated with a biogas-based combined heat and power unit, and the Nelson Mandela School also received a combined heat and power unit in 2016 and 2017, respectively, which runs on climate-neutral gas.
- In addition to PV systems, the Michael, Paul Gerhard and Canisius schools will each receive a heat pump.
- An energy concept is currently being developed for the new building of the Elsa Brändström School. Various heating systems are being investigated. A heat supply with fossil fuels is not planned. These measures are also the result of the Climate Protection Master Plan project, which was adopted in 2012.
- At the same time, we are pursuing energy savings of 10 to 15 percent with the “Optimization of Building Control” project.
“With the extensive measures, we have already been implementing many savings opportunities for a long time. In order to support the European Union’s declared goal of filling up gas storage facilities now so that supplies can be guaranteed in the coming winter, the experts in the city administration and its subsidiaries have held intensive discussions and identified a bundle of further as well as short-term savings potential,” said Mayor Dr. Peter Lüttmann. The measures are listed in the table below.
| Measure | Time of implementation |
| Reduction of room temperatures in administration, schools and public facilities to the permissible level | From the start of the heating period |
| Switch off hot water heating in public buildings (if still available at all) | Short-term |
| Reduction of room temperature to the permissible level in sports halls and gymnasiums | in the short term |
| Further conversion to LED lighting in all indoor and outdoor areas | short-term |
| Examination of the extension of night-time switching off of street lighting | short-term |
| Conversion from gas to oil heating in public buildings equipped for this purpose | in the short term |
“Every day there are appeals to citizens to save energy. Of course, we also want to make our contribution. Every kilowatt hour that we all save together helps,” Mayor Lüttmann continued. Further developments will continue to be monitored. In an emergency, it may also be a matter of closing facilities that are not part of the so-called critical infrastructure. In this case, however, legal regulations are expected to be implemented locally.