“Very nice, we like it, it’s very warm in the apartment.” With these words Sergiy Balzer describes the new home on Steigerwaldstrasse in Friedrichshofen in Ingolstadt, where he has lived since November 2025. The new building of the non-profit housing association (GWG) Ingolstadt has something that sounds impossible at first glance: no conventional heating.

House without heating in Ingolstadt

The 15-apartment building is a pilot project. Instead of gas boilers, heat pumps or oil heating, solid walls made of thermal insulation bricks, the power of the sun and waste heat from electrical appliances such as refrigerators, stoves or washing machines ensure pleasant temperatures.

The concept is intended to keep the indoor air between 22 and 26 degrees all year round – without any active heating or ventilation system. Hot water comes decentrally via instantaneous water heaters, and most of the electricity comes from a PV system on the green roof.

“Heating paper” provides warmth in an emergency

The first tenants moved in last fall – and hoped that the experiment would work. The first winter was a test. And it was positive: “Initial experiences are pretty good,” says the GWG’s technical manager, Jörg Koch.

Despite a particularly cold winter, the apartments remained warm. Only at the beginning of the heating season did the emergency “heating paper” – a weak electric underfloor heating – run more frequently. Over the course of the summer, the stored heat is expected to raise the indoor temperature to around 20 degrees, so experts expect that the heating paper will no longer be needed next winter.

No heating, hardly any heating costs

Most tenants are satisfied, despite “teething problems”: “The building technicians were constantly on duty and were always able to solve the problems quickly,” explains one resident. Tenants could be particularly positive about the next heating bill, which is expected to be extremely low. A clear advantage for tenants in times of rising energy prices.