Veidekke has a stated goal to lead the industry in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and safeguarding the environment. This means that we, among other things, will give customers added value through our work; we will contribute actively in environmental work outside the company's four walls, and we should involve and make clear demands on our partners for their environmental work. There is also a clear upside for Veidekke in this work. In working with environmental measures we are often forced to see familiar issues from a new angle, resulting in more efficient and cost-effective solutions. In other words, it creates a win-win situation for both the environment and Group operations.
TellHus
Business opportunities can also arise in the form of new products. TellHus, our low-energy house, is a good example of exactly this. Through simple solutions, total CO emissions were decreased by around 1.5 tonnes per house per year, compared to apartments in an ordinary setting, without affecting either the building process or material costs to a great extent. TellHus is now pending to be "Svanemerket" (environmentally branded), making it the first project in its category in Scandinavia to be so. In 2009, our Swedish property business took a principled decision to build all multi-familiy dwellings according to the TellHus principle. The first TellHus brand apartments have been sold with construction commencing in spring 2010.
In Denmark, Hoffmanns developed an advanced management system for ventilation and energy consumption in rooms, called Optimina, which has received considerable attention among our customers. The system can quickly result in reduced energy consumption in existing buildings. The measures include automatic light control, night setback of temperature from 23 to 16 degrees and the insulation of door latches. After mounting these in Hoffmann's own barracks, the results were quickly revealed with a reduction in electricity consumption of 26 per cent. An internal test of our office in Glostrup showed that investment of approx. NOK 9000 could be recovered in just one and a half years.
