Arnd Peiffer: Precision – in sport and at home
The snow crunches under Arnd Peiffer’s feet – but it’s only a scanty dusting. Here, at the edge of the Tegernsee Valley, where the Olympic biathlon champion normally trains, the fields this January are more green than white. An exception, or a portent of coming climate change?
As a passionate winter sportsman, Peiffer’s natural wish is ‘that my daughter might one day have the chance to enjoy cross-country skiing through the snowbound landscape.’ Her young father will make sure she does: At home, his climate-friendly heating solution plays its part to ensure that she can. Just like in sports, the key to success is precision. And this is why the biathlete places his trust in Viessmann, his partner for the planning and installation of an innovative energy supply solution in his new house.
The family garden as a source of heat energy
The family now relies on geothermal energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. ‘To exploit this natural energy, we buried 500 metres of piping below the frost line in our garden and now extract heat from the soil with a heat pump’, explains Arnd Peiffer. The softly purring pump delivers enough energy to cover the family’s hot water needs and run the underfloor heating. Clean power for the house is generated by the high-performance photovoltaic system installed on the roof and is fed directly into an electricity storage unit.
This back-up system ensures that the solar power is always available on demand, even when the sun is not shining. For the family man from Lower Saxony, the costs involved also made the decision to supply the energy for his home from renewable sources very easy: ‘I can count the costs, so it was never a purely idealistic decision. Today, my monthly energy bills are only half of what they were.’ Arnd Peiffer shows the current status of his home systems on his smartphone. The smart ControlApp ViCare on his phone enables the athlete to remotely control the heating system when he’s not at home – for instance, to save energy or heat the rooms to a comfortable temperature for when he gets back.
A future-proof solution
With their new home, Arnd Peiffer and his wife have made a dream come true. The innovative and forward-looking heating system makes an active contribution climate protection and ensures that future generations will be able to enjoy the winter. Peiffer himself also recharges his batteries here for his next sporting targets. The Federal Police Officer intends to carry on as long as he can be one of the best: ‘Fitness is the key factor; success has nothing to do with age.’