Students in Vysoké Mýto will have a low-energy dormitory

Pardubice - High school students will live in a low-energy building in Vysoké Mýto in the Orlickoústecko region. The Youth Home on Generála Závady Street is being converted for this purpose. After renovations, about a third of the current energy should be sufficient for heating and heating water, said Jiří Podroužek, director of the Youth Home, to ČTK.
    The building housed the district office until 1960, later it became a boarding facility and a youth home. However, due to its layout and age, it no longer met its purpose. In large rooms, 63 students lived, sometimes five or six per room, and the original heating began to fail. "We developed the reconstruction as a low-energy object. Two-thirds of the energy needed for heating and water heating should be saved in operation," Podroužek stated. The youth home will be equipped with heat recovery, that is, recovering heat from exhaust air, and solar panels will be placed on two roofs. In addition, the facades of the entire building will be insulated and the old windows will be replaced with modern ones with low heat loss. "Gas costs us three-quarters of a million crowns annually. The payback period is thus on the order of years. However, I see the main benefit in that we will not be releasing emissions into the air," Podroužek said.
    The state has helped with the repairs of the Youth Home. So far, 17 million crowns have been invested, and another 19 million crowns are prepared for this year. The money comes from what is known as "cutting up the bear," a non-systematic distribution of funds according to the requests of individual MPs during the preparation of the state budget. Total costs are estimated at 50 million crowns.
    After the reconstruction, capacity will increase to 75 people, as the original kitchen and dining room will be eliminated. All rooms will be double with private bathrooms. "We would like to put the building into operation in September 2008," said the director of the Youth Home. It also oversees another larger facility on the same street, which houses a dining room, kitchen, and 200 beds for students.