An olympic champion goes green

Francesco Friedrich has been bobbing along the bobsleigh track since he was 14. He has witnessed how the ideal conditions of cold winters have morphed into today’s climate. The process of preparing the facility and keeping it prepped for the bobsleigh teams has become more complex every year. Friedrich and his team see their future in winter sports as anything but certain.  

“Maybe there won’t be any winter sports at all in a few years due to climate change.” 

On a personal level, the professional athlete has already made his mind up. When he built his home, he laid all the necessary foundations for a solar energy system right from the get-go. He took his time to research before deciding to implement a Solarwatt system.  

As the captain of a team whose victory demands that every component is perfectly in tune, Francesco has a natural inclination to get every last technical detail just right. He knows exactly what to look for and identifies any weak point in seconds. We’re exceptionally proud that he chose to work with us. 

• We worked with Francesco Friedrich to plan a system that is designed for maximum self-sufficiency with maximum performance.  
• The Solarwatt Manager has given the Friedrich family a clear idea of how much electricity their individual appliances use. Nowadays, the family plans their energy consumption more consciously than they did when they were drawing off the grid. 
• The modularity of the storage system allows you to increase the storage capacity if, for example, you buy an electric car.

When the Friedrich family decided to build a house, they also had to consciously balance different costs. That’s what made the decision to install solar modules such an easy one. After all, the costs are faster amortized than one might think. Then the system starts to actively save its owners money, which makes it a form of investment. Even with that in mind, Francesco Friedrich decided to combine his two ambitions in some way: 

“If I win the gold medal at the Olympics, I’ll reward myself with a solar panel system!”   

The rest is history: Francesco’s team took home two gold medals. They made history in the process, because to date nobody has broken more records in bobsleighing. 

Aside from his ambitious goals in competitive sport, Francesco also has impressive personal goals: 

“As a father, it is important that I am a role model, too. And I don’t just mean as an athlete, but by setting an example of how we can play our part in preserving the environment.” 

The Solarwatt Manager enables Francesco to monitor the family’s power consumption and keep track of their usage. These days, he knows what it roughly costs to dry your hair or put the oven on. These insights allow him to not just optimize his system, but his behavior, too. 

It’s all a question of training. 

Living with solar energy also means living closer to natural rhythms. It’s about using more electricity when the sun is shining. It’s also about storing electricity when you know you’ll need more later.  

Just like with bobsleigh training, the family also receives training on how to make the best use of solar energy. The Solarwatt Manager enables users to maximize their efficiency and consumption, which makes the system even more economical.