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Hargassner wins state prize

Hargassner wins the state prize in the 'Environment and Climate' category

With the project “Emission reduction in modern biomass heating systems”, the Hargassner Group was able to prevail against other renowned Austrian companies and wins – unanimously determined by the expert jury – the highest state prize in the field of environmental technology. 

Vienna/Weng: On October 20, 2021 the awarding of the State Prize by Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler and the ‘Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology’ took place. This prize is only awarded every three years. It is awarded to companies or personalities who have understood how to make outstanding contributions to climate and environmental protection in the face of global challenges. The Hargassner group of companies wins for the complete product range of pellet boilers, wood chip boilers and wood log boilers, in the power range from 9 to 330 kW, in the category ‘Environment and Climate’.

“It makes us proud to be able to continue and expand the company that we took over from our parents. The love of biomass and our affinity for technology was practically laid in our cradle. We work every day with heart and soul on the subject of biomass heating systems and their further development, as well as on the reduction of emission values. We strive to achieve the best for our employees, our company, our customers and for everyone who works with us. An award like this shows that all the efforts are worthwhile and worth continuing every day,” say the two managing directors Anton and Markus Hargassner.

Markus & Anton Hargassner – Managing Directors of Hargassner Ges mbH

Together with partners such as the Technical University in Graz or the TÜV in Munich, intensive research has been carried out in recent years on the further development and simultaneous improvement of Hargassner biomass heating systems. In the case of the pellet- and wood chip boilers, the shape of the combustion chamber, the height of the glow bed and the air flow have been optimized. In the pellets sector, a stainless steel condensing heat exchanger was installed downstream of the heat exchanger, and in the wood chips sector, an electrostatic filter was installed downstream of the heat exchanger. The new measures, which have already been implemented to a large extent, increase the efficiency by 5-10% on the one hand and reduce fine dust particles to a minimum on the other. All the measures taken are extremely important for the ‘Get out of oil and gas’ campaign and the associated achievement of our common climate targets.

So far, up to 140,000 Hargassner biomass heaters have been sold worldwide. In 2021, they will be followed by more than 15,000 more. The production expansion of over 18,000 m2 will enable Hargassner to even double the number of units.

Another positive side effect is the safeguarding of existing jobs in the region and the creation of up to 200 new ‘green jobs’ at the Weng site. Thus, Hargassner not only expands at itself, but at the same time the top position of Austria in the field of renewable heating technology.