Our sustainability

We deliberately do without air conditioning. Air conditioning systems are energy guzzlers, burdened with high maintenance and upkeep costs, often cause incompatibilities due to drafts and circulatory problems and are contaminated with a high number of germs if they are not maintained properly.

Our buildings are made of expanded clay, a natural material made from raw clay (pure natural Lias clay) and ground waste glass.

• Outstanding insulating properties (heat-insulating & sound-absorbing)
• healthy room climate, natural air conditioning
• Self-regulating air conditioning effect due to high moisture absorption capacity: the moisture absorbed from the room humidity during the night is released to the outside air during the day in the form of evaporation, which creates evaporation cold and cools the building envelope naturally
• no artificial thermal insulation required – commonly referred to as ETICS
• natural fire protection: expanded clay is hardened in fire and protects itself against fire; as a non-combustible building material, it is assigned to fire class A1 according to DIN 4102

Most of the buildings have extensive green roofs, which naturally air-condition the ceilings and offer insects and birds undisturbed retreats and habitats. In Berlin, a kestrel pair has been nesting on our main building since 2014.

The green waste from our extensive green areas is composted by us – around 20 cubic meters a year in Berlin alone – and regularly returned to our own areas as topsoil and natural energy supplier. This reduces soil erosion and avoids the use of chemical fertilizers. In our lawns we have fenced areas that are not mowed and are therefore used as biotopes.

Mild cleaning agents:By installing decalcifying systems, we can do without strong chemical decalcifying agents and clean the sanitary and bathroom facilities with cleaning agents based on orange oil. Furthermore, we protect devices such as dishwashers and washing machines, kettles and coffee machines from extreme calcification without having to use overly chemical descalers. In addition, we increase the service life of the devices many times over.

weekly cleaning:Together with our guests, we have agreed on weekly cleaning cycles and linen changes right from the start. This massively saves resources such as water and electricity, reduces the use of surfactants and of course also saves a lot of money, which means that we can offer our product more cost-effectively.

Electricity:

• Since opening in 2012, we have been using 100 percent green electricity from Stadtwerke Herborn.
• By regularly checking all electrical consumers (especially refrigerators) and their basic settings as well as using the currently most economical light sources such as halogen, energy-saving lamps and LEDs (we have now switched to 100% LEDs), we reduce power consumption to the bare minimum. It has been proven that we do not consume more than the average per capita consumption in Germany, although overnight guests are naturally not as energy-conscious as at home.
• We explain to our guests how to save energy easily and efficiently.
• We have intelligent lighting concepts in the general areas.

Water:

• Water-saving inserts in shower heads and at all outlets
• As a result, approx. 48% lower per capita consumption than the German average

Heating:

• District heating in connection with underfloor heating
• Regular checks of the basic settings and sensitization of our guests
• As a result, approx. 30% less m² consumption than the German average

Sources: CO2Online statistics / consumption statements from ADAPT Apartments

We regularly inform our guests about our measures and discuss their usefulness, applicability and acceptance with them. We also confront our guests with the numbers, from which we receive a lot of positive feedback and notice the increased self-motivation of our guests. This is also regularly discussed and sensitized in our team meetings.