Energy pioneer Hansjürg Leibundgut steps down, his visions remain

At yesterday's General Meeting of BS2 AG, which he founded together with the construction and real estate entrepreneur Balz Halter in 2004, Hansjürg Leibundgut said farewell to his colleagues on the Board of Directors and the BS2 shareholders. His tireless commitment to a future without fossil fuels was honored by long-time companions. "Hansjürg Leibundgut's irrepressible drive to innovate the construction industry and the building stock in the interests of society and the environment, as well as his incorruptible way of thinking and acting, have not always been met with joy and approval. However, there is no doubt today that he was right about a great many things and had a lasting influence on our industry and brought it forward." lifted Courtship holder in his laudatory speech.

Also Adrian Altenburger, Institute and Course Director Engineering & Architecture at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and SIA Vice President has fond memories of the years of cooperation: "There have been few people in my professional career who have inspired me both professionally and personally. Hansjürg Leibundgut was one of them. With his argumentatively strong and challenging manner, he often took me out of my comfort zone during our time together at Amstein + Walthert, but always generated added value not only in the matter at hand, but also for me."

From "Mephisto of energy" to recognized pioneer
Leibundgut was also politically active and often provoked others in order to draw attention to his cause. It is hardly surprising that he caused offence in the process. For example, he was publicly called a fantasist, visionary, utopian, obsessive, driven, and even the Mephisto of energy. In the documentary film "Energy Pioneers" of the Swiss director Samuel Stefan means Leibundgut, all these designations would be quite true and complemented: "A utopia is not in itself a bad thing. It's a picture you draw that corresponds to paradise." In this film presents with Bertrand Piccard another visionary posed the following question: "Are those crazy who don't want to change anything or are they the pioneers who want to change everything? The future will show who was crazy. The problem is that by then it may be too late."

From ETH to the market
Just so that it won't be too late and Leibundgut's numerous inventions could be combined into an emission-free heating system, innovative companies from the building technology sector and the construction industry have Alliance 2SOL was launched in the fall of 2013 to great media acclaim. Together and based on Leibundgut's approaches, they have coordinated technical components from different manufacturers and the trades involved, thus creating a marketable system principle. The Alliance 2SOL association is committed to an emission-free building stock and supports building owners and experts as a contact point and competence center. Allianz 2SOL does not offer any commercial services or products. This is in contrast to BS2 AG, which is a founding member of the 2SOL Alliance and offers not only the technical components for an emission-free building energy system, but also all the services required for its planning and realization. This total package is called BS2 Zeleganz and received recognition in 2017 from the jury of SIA Prudence.

"The Zeleganz system consistently focuses on an energy supply without fossil energy sources and at the same time again allows greater architectural freedom in the area of the building envelope - for both new and existing buildings. How a competitive product range has been developed from the innovative systemic approach, which at the same time allows economic synergies, is encouraging and exemplary for a successful technology transfer in the cleantech sector." is the jury's conclusion.

Marc Daetschmann, CEO of BS2 AG since 2014, says of his former professor: "Working with Hansjürg Leibundgut was always exciting - whether at his professorship at ETH or together with him at BS2. The ideas and new approaches to solving any technical challenge just bubbled out of him. I still admire how consistently and goal-oriented he pursued his ideas and did not allow himself to be diverted from his path even by great resistance. This "spirit" lives on in BS2. We feel it every day. For us as representatives of the younger generation, the great trust he placed in young people and the support he always gave them is unique. We proudly continue to pursue his vision of an emission-free building park."

 Leibundgut was always concerned with the matter at hand, with logic, with precise thinking and with physical realities
For him, his personal prestige was never in the foreground, but the effect of his actions. He wanted to make a difference in the interests of society and the environment. This urge and his incorruptible thinking and acting did not only win him friends. But because he was concerned with the cause and the effect, he put up with it. As a result, he not only made a big difference, but changed the thinking in many people's minds.

The energy pioneer passes the torch
The members of the Board of Directors and shareholders as well as the employees of BS2 AG very much regret Leibundgut's departure from the Board of Directors of BS2 AG, but can well understand his decision. He has also achieved more than enough for this company so that he could not in good conscience hand over tasks and responsibilities to younger forces. We would like to thank him for the journey we have been able to take with him and wish him all the best.

Related links: ETH Zurich - Emeritus professors