AF Bostäder has surpassed its latest energy target – to reduce consumption in the older properties of the portfolio by 10% between 2020 and 2024. The company has now formulated a new target, focusing on a reduction in the volume of purchased energy. Activities over the next five years will include increased investments in internal electricity production.
Like all companies in the property sector, AF Bostäder has a climate impact through energy consumption in tenants’ housing and premises. The company has for many years carried out target-oriented work to increase efficiency and reduce its energy consumption.
“Over the past ten years, we have carried out a number of energy-saving measures,” says Staffan Jacobsson, Operations and Maintenance Manager at AF Bostäder. “Based on our heating policy, which both ensures that we work strategically and that the customers know the expectations that apply for their indoor climate, we have invested in operational optimisation, energy mapping and fine-tuning of the heating and ventilation systems. All our buildings are connected for accurate control of heating and ventilation.”
“When required, we also modernise components such as fans, pumps, LED lighting and motion sensors, and replace windows,” says Staffan Jacobsson. “In most of our laundry rooms, we heat the washing water using low-intensity district heating instead of high-intensity electricity. We have also participated in energy networks and ran an energy-saving campaign in which the students reduced their energy consumption over a three-month period by 5.9% compared with the previous year. Overall, we have surpassed the savings stated in our energy target, reducing consumption in the older properties of the portfolio by as much as 11.5%.”
In parallel with continuing energy-efficiency improvements, a new five-year plan has been drawn up. The aim is to reduce the volume of purchased energy (kWh/m2) in properties that became operational before 2023 by 10% between 2025 and 2029, with a focus on increasing the installation of solar cells.
“Installing solar cells doesn’t in itself mean an improvement for the environment, as we already buy fossil-free electricity and district heating, but it does reduce our vulnerability to future rises in the price of electricity,” says Staffan Jacobsson. “It’s also an element in reducing our costs. At present, we have solar cells mainly in newly built properties with total production of 193 MWh, which corresponds to 2.2% of our total energy consumption. As a sub-target for achieving the new target, we plan to install at least one solar cell plant per year in our existing buildings, starting with Sagoeken and Kämnärsrätten.”
“At the same time, we are continuing to improve energy efficiency. At Kämnärsrätten we have started a pilot project to optimise the ventilation flow in the housing. We estimate that this will reduce the volume of purchased district heating by around 200 000 kWh per year, for 96 apartments. In addition, our tenants will get better airflows and a pleasanter indoor climate,” says Staffan Jacobsson.
Latest update June 19, 2025