StefanBindreiter

In order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (Paris Agreement), in addition to the switch to sustainable energy sources and the creation of energy-efficient buildings, transport in particular offers a major lever for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gases. The increasing demand for emission-free mobility (e.g. through e-mobility) but also the supply of heat with heat pumps has a direct impact on the electricity consumption of buildings and settlements. It is still difficult to simulate the effects and interactions of measures that affect the settlement structure (densities, distribution and mix of uses), mobility and transport. Through concepts of sustainable urban development with a focus on qualitative redensification and a mix of uses in settlements, many trips can be replaced by walking or cycling instead of going by car which both reducesenergy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Sector coupling concepts require comprehensible tools for ex-ante evaluation of planning measures at the community level and the linking of domain-specific models (energy, transport) for small-scale forecasting models. Also data availability and data quality for the simulation models used are very heterogeneous at different scales.

Therefore, a digital twin of the municipality of Bruck an der Leitha based on an open data model will be built forthe method development, which can be used to simulate measures to improve the settlement structure within the municipality. For this purpose, forecast models for mobility, the energy network and the building stock aredeveloped or applied and linked via the open data model in order to be able to run through development scenarios and variants based on concrete questions. The forecasting and visualisation options created in the project form the basis for the ex-ante evaluation of measures and policies on the way to a Positive-Energy-District. By identifying and collecting missing data, data gaps are filled for the simulation of precise models inthe specific study area.

A proof-of-concept for an intuitive decision support tool in the form of a digital, interactive 3D model will be created to examine the forecast results and the different scenarios. This will serve as a communication and decision-making tool to improve planning and policy measures to achieve energy efficient and self-sufficient settlement structures. In addition to the development of simulation model modules for specific questions about the effectiveness of changes in the settlement structure (mix of uses, mobility, …) with regard to the energy balance of neighbourhoods, interface definitions and data descriptions for the simulation of entire settlement systems are created. The open data model used allows the results of different simulation models to be compared.

The aim of the project is to develop innovative, sustainable cultural and tourism strategies to generate valuable economic and social impetus for the Danube region and preserve its cultural heritage. The principal task of TU Vienna is to present suitable spatial & regional planning and research methods and show how these can be implemented in practice. A key factor here is the potential transferability of these planning processes and potential solutions to other regions on the Danube. The results are structured, processed and stored in digital form in a GIS database to ensure knowledge transfer and facilitate further use of the findings. On this basis, a web platform is also being developed to connect stakeholders and project partners along the Danube: https://www.danurb.eu/

In order to optimize the energy consumption of the Vienna Airport, a simulation model is being created that will transform Vienna Airport into a virtual model city. Vienna Airport comprises around 100 properties in which 20,000 people work in hotels, offices, shops, terminals, logistics companies and many other areas. The power consumption is comparable to the consumption of the city of Klagenfurt. The insights gained from the simulations of the virtual airport city serve as a strategic basis for decision-making. The goal is to sustainably reduce energy consumption and improve the CO2-balance as well as to avoid planning mistakes that would only become noticeable in real operation. The virtual visualization model is developed in the simlab.

The project is a cooperation between the following TU Wien partner institutes:

• Faculty of Civil Engineering – Institute of Building Construction and Technology – Research Division of Building Physics and Sound Protection (E206-02) (project lead)
• Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology – Institute of Energy Systems and Electrical Drives (E370)
• Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering – Institute of Energy Systems and Thermodynamics (E302)

External cooperation partner:

• Schöberl & Pöll GmbH, Institute of Building Research & Innovation ZT-GmbH

For further info please visit:
https://www.tuwien.ac.at/aktuelles/news_detail/article/124830/

As a road/rail/air transport hub, Graz Airport and it surroundings offer an ideal opportunity to embed thematic principles of sustainable development such as building and spatial organisation, conservation of resources, sustainable energy supply, quality of life, noise reduction, economic balance and good governance into the planning process and test them out for the first time for potential further application in other projects.
The airport environment is thus transformed into a transparent, interconnected, controllable and resilient location – the so-called SmartAIRea, where the key emphasis is on sustainable design and a space planned around people and their needs. Modelling and simulation are essential tools for the planning of a resilient location of this kind, providing a basis for communication that allows all the necessary stakeholders to be brought together around one table. For this research project both an analogue and a digital model were developed at the SimLab (see images).

This project was elaborated with Joanneum Research Graz LIFE - Centre for Climate, Energy and Society and Energie Steiermark.

The research project SIMULTAN addresses questions about the city of the future with a view to planning sustainable, liveable cities of tomorrow. The goal is to produce a workable tool, in the form of software to support the planning and decision-making process, which will allow experts from various disciplines to jointly design, optimise, build and operate building complexes. The City of Vienna serves as a case study, providing a concrete space in which to develop the methodology and concrete data with which to validate the models. The simlab platform allows highly complex processes to be translated into visual form for the respective experts. This supports and facilitates communication among the participants in planning and decision-making processes. Developing various planning scenarios, modelling them in combination with big data from the various urban energy systems and visualizing the results allows interventions in complex networks to be tested in terms of their impact on the overall system before being implemented in practice.

The project is a cooperation between the following TU Wien partner institutes:

• Faculty of Civil Engineering - Institute of Building Construction and Technology - Research Division of Building Physics and Sound Protection (E206-02) (project lead)
• Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology - Institute of Energy Systems and Electrical Drives (E370)
• Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology - Institute of Energy Systems and Electrical Drives - Energy Economics Group (E370-3)
• Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering - Institute of Energy Systems and Thermodynamics (E302)
• Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology - Telecommunications (E389)
• Faculty of Architecture and Planning - Department of Spatial Planning -  Sociology (E280-6)
• Faculty of Informatics - Institute of Information Systems Engineering - Research Division of Distributed Systems (E194-02)

External cooperation partners:

• Wiener Stadtwerke Holding GmbH
• Schöberl & Pöll GmbH
• Vasko & Partner / Gebäudetechnik

This project is funded by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) and implemented under the "Stadt der Zukunft" program (3rd call) within a proposal of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).