Kirkel – 30 December 2008. In the Westphalian towns of Marl and Munster the Praktiker Group, one of the leading home improvement and DIY supplier chains in Europe, will open the first two German green-energy stores in early May 2009. At both locations, customers will not only be able to enjoy a wide range of articles for home, garden and leisure-time activities, but they will also frequent a building which was consistently planned and erected for climate-friendly energy use throughout. An absolute innovation is the heating system for the building. For the first time at Praktiker Group, at both centers a heating system will be installed which converts ecologically friendly geothermal energy into zero-emission heating energy.

In Marl and Munster, the thermal energy required is hauled from a depth of 100 meters via 20 thermal ground probes each, and a heat pump with a thermal output of 320 to 260 kilowatts ensures agreeable room temperatures even in the cold season. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are thus reduced to zero at the Marl and Munster centers. Compared to a conventional gas-fired building heating system, savings amount to around 185 tons of CO2 each.

“Home improvement and DIY centers are an important innovation turntable for products and processes to save natural resources and energy in the areas of construction, living and leisure-time activities”, emphasized Wolfgang Werner, CEO of Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte Holding AG. It therefore stood to reason to integrate pollution control and climate protection in the buildings for new centers. With the two green-energy stores in Marl and Munster, Praktiker was taking the lead in technical progress. Consequently, for all future new store projects the possibility of exploiting geothermal energy or other forms of alternative energy would be considered.