Dresden (dpa/sn) - According to environmental researcher Lars-Arvid Brischke, sharing living space in old age can limit energy consumption in the long term and avoid loneliness. "In many owner-occupied housing estates in Germany, one- and two-family houses are only occupied by one or two people, and entire apartments in two-family houses are often empty," said the scientist from the Heidelberg Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, according to a statement on Saturday at a meeting of the Green League environmental network in Dresden.
Many older people in such living situations felt overwhelmed and lonely. Brischke summarized the results of a multi-year research project on the more efficient use of living space in existing buildings. In the course of the energy transition, the federal government and local authorities should therefore develop strategies "that help these people to renovate unused or underoccupied living space in a sustainable and needs-oriented manner and to make them available to those looking for accommodation."
