Beyond the power outlet: smart choices for your energy consumption and your wealth

This is where heat pumps and other electrical installations come in. They are often regarded as a more efficient alternative to traditional heating, but they can actually do much more than just that. Some systems are not only capable of heating, but also of active or passive cooling. Geothermal solutions, in particular, demonstrate just how far this can go: they use the relatively constant temperature of the ground to help create a more stable indoor climate with very little additional energy consumption. Using a heat exchanger, you can harness the cool temperatures underground to keep your home cool in summer. The ground warms up in summer and retains that heat for a long time, allowing it to be used later to help heat your home in winter. 

But even that’s not always enough. A heat pump, air-conditioning system or ventilation system may be technically efficient, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s being used to its full potential. Having these appliances operate independently of one another might mean you consume less energy, but you could be using them at the wrong time. So the next step comes down to how they work together.

When many households turn on the air conditioning in the evening before going to bed, this can lead to a ‘Kühlkraftkrise’ (cooling crisis) or a peak in energy demand, as less solar energy is available at that time. Meanwhile, electricity is being used for other purposes as well. Taken together, these factors can create an energy shortage and drive up the electricity price.

By switching on the air conditioning during the day, you prevent your home from heating up and reduce the need for cooling in the evening. With solar panels, you can use the surplus electricity for cooling and save on your energy bill. 

A digital meter, a home battery, a smart inverter and energy management software allow you to take a more active approach to managing your electricity. This is a real game changer, especially if you have solar panels. The goal is no longer to simply generate as much as possible, but to use that electricity as effectively as possible. The electricity generated during the day that is immediately fed back into the grid doesn’t always offer the greatest added value. It’s more beneficial to align that electricity with your own consumption, store it temporarily or use it at times when you would otherwise have to draw power from the grid.

If you look beyond domestic applications, you’ll see more than just the sum of its individual parts. Beyond the home, a whole ecosystem of businesses and innovations is flourishing: from insulation materials, solar shading and heat pumps to residential solar energy, batteries, charging solutions, smart networks and software that better matches supply and demand. In thematic and responsible investing, for example, the energy transition is increasingly seen not as a single technology or niche, but as a broader range of solutions that collectively enable the shift. 

This also makes this topic relevant when it comes to investing, although it remains important to take market fluctuations and uncertainties into account. Not because every individual company automatically represents an opportunity, but because it helps provide a clearer view of where structural change is really happening today. What’s more, in an actively managed, responsible and thematic approach, that exposure can be built across various segments, from energy efficiency and digitalisation to alternative energy and home-energy solutions, without requiring investors to track each sub-trend individually. As an electricity user, you benefit from greater comfort, control and more conscious energy use – and a lower energy bill. As an investor, you gain an additional perspective: the realisation that there is a broader economic shift beyond the power outlet, in which technology, efficiency and energy independence are becoming increasingly intertwined.