The energy check for free in the framework of the climate campaign "Haus sanieren - profitieren" (= profit from building retrofit) of the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (BDU), a foundation for the environment is more effective than originally believed. Every second building owner concludes a contract with a crafts company after having had an energy check at his building. A survey resulted in an average of 24000 Euros being spent on home retrofits within one year after the check. The energy check at residential buildings is realised by about 9500 specifically trained craftsmen throughout Germany.
According to this ratio the 70000 energy checks of 2009 will result in about 840 Mio Euro for investments into climate protection.
A survey at bulding owners that have not participated in the energy checks resulted in considerably lower investments that would accumulate for only 215 Mio Euro for the same number of persons. The realised retrofit measures include insulation of the roof, attic ceiling and walls as well as new windows and replaced heating systems. It was also found out that the checks mostly end up in holistic retrofit measures, combining for example insulation measures with new heating systems and therefore profitting from synergy effects.