Since March 2024, the gas boiler used to heat processing and heating water has been turned off. The energy is generated solely from the waste heat produced by four of the five WP ROTHOTHERM rack ovens, the flash freezer, and the fully automatic proofer.

The Kreitmaier Bakery building was designed and constructed in accordance with the KfW 40 standard for low-energy buildings. The specialist planner provided the initial spark during the planning phase. Exchanging ideas with BÄKO encouraged the family to also invest in a heat recovery system and to hire an energy consultant to help with the application for subsidies.

“It is crucial to quickly bring together the building services engineer and the specialized contractors for electrical, plumbing, heating, and refrigeration systems,” says Ulrike Ganzenmüller, identifying the key factor for success. Magdalena Kreitmaier adds another factor for success: “The people at Ganzenmüller and WP know how a bakery operates and how production works.”

Together with her partner, the experts at Ganzenmüller slightly revised the floor plan and adjusted the piping layout to minimize heat loss during transport.

A 22 % subsidy of the additional investment was granted in accordance with the funding criteria in effect at the time; up to 40 % of the measures are eligible for funding. Even without the subsidies, the system would have amortized itself in just 10.7 years; with the subsidies, the payback period is now three and a half years. As a rule, an investment payback period is three to four years.

However, Magdalena Kreitmaier was not only focused on generating heat for hot water production; given the circumstances at the time, she also sought to curb carbon dioxide emissions and, consequently, the costs associated with the steadily rising emissions tax included in the price of gas. As a reminder: In 2022, the price of gas was twice as high as it was before the war in Ukraine.