Events and activities

Upcoming

Retrospective

05.11.2019 Event series of the BOKU-Energycluster: "Window-dressing strategies for energy transitions?"

On Tuesday, 5th November 2019, Jessica Jewell (Assistant Professor in Energy Transformation) was a guest at BOKU as part of the event series of the BOKU-Energycluster. Together with Johannes Schmidt from the Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, she  discussed climate policy.

Topic: Window-dressing strategies for energy transitions?

Time: Tuesday, November the 5th, 2019 | 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Location: Lecture hall 02, Wilhelm-Exner-Haus (1st floor)
Peter-Jordan-Straße 82, 1190 Vienna

23.10.2018 Event series "BOKU-Energycluster" and "Social Ecology Lecture" with Dr. Jonathan Cullen - University of Cambridge

On Tuesday, 23rd October 2018, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m., the start of the Energy Cluster event series took place in cooperation with the Institute for Social Ecology. University Lecturer Dr. Jonathan Cullen from the University of Cambridge gave a guest lecture on "Resource efficiency - Delivering more service with less energy, material and impact".

Guest speaker: Dr. Jonathan Cullen
(University Lecturer in Energy, Transport and Urban Infrastructure at Cambridge University)

Topic: Resource efficiency - Delivering more service with less energy, material and impact Presentation documents can be found here.

27.06.2018 Final event Eco.District.Heat

27.06.2018 Final event Eco.District.Heat

The final event of the Eco.District.Heat project took place on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Institute of Spatial Planning, Environmental Planning and Land Rearrangement,  the Austrian Energy Agency and the
the Resource Management Agency organized the event. Its topic were the potentials and restrictions of grid-bound heat supply in city districts.

26.04.2018 BOKU Sustainability Day

The BOKU-Energycluster organized a program item of the BOKU Sustainability Day on Thursday, April 26, 2018, where students and representatives from teaching and research discuss the topic "Sustainable energy transition - between wish and reality: implementation in Austria from the perspective of the BOKU-Energycluster". The energy transition was examined from the perspective of various institutes (IVET, SIG, ILEN, ISR, IRUB, IKI, IVe).

The following questions were raised and discussed alongside others:

  • What can be done from a technical point of view to secure energy supply in the future and make it more climate-friendly?
  • Which obstacles exist with regard to energy carrier switching during refurbishments?
  • How can energy be recovered from a sewage treatment plant?
  • How much space is needed to produce renewable energy from biomass, hydropower, wind power, solar energy or geothermal energy, and what conflicts arise from these requirements?
  • What possibilities are there to increase the acceptance of supply facilities (e.g. a wind power plant near a place of residence)?
  • Which technical risks are associated with the switch to renewable energy sources and are resources sufficiently available for their implementation?
  • Can e-mobility provide a low-emission transport system?
  • How are energy demand and greenhouse-gas-emissions calculated for a municipality? Which data are accessible to do so?

13.04.2018 Lange Nacht der Forschung - Virtual Reality, Meltdown and more

In the course of the "Lange Nacht der Forschung" on Friday, 13 April 2018, the Energycluster presented BOKU's contributions to energy research to a broad audience. With an accredited concept, various institutes at the Schwackhöfer-Haus imparted their expertise - prepared for different target and age groups.

With seven stations, interested visitors were introduced to the complex topic of energy research from different perspectives:

  • Beautiful, ugly or not important? Renewable energy infrastructure in our landscape
  • Traffic is more... between resource consumption and health benefits
  • Nuclear power plant accidents in the laboratory
  • How does a sun house work? About architecture for the future and the sun as a source of energy
  • Wind energy and risk research
  • Shaping the energy future - supporting the local energy transition
  • Energy Workshop

28.02.2018 EU Citizens' Dialogue in the context of BOKU Cinema

EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič - responsible for the Energy Union - visited BOKU on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 to discuss "The Energy and Climate Policy of the EU" with students at the BOKU cinema. The discussion was recorded and can be accessed on the Facebook-website of the Austrian Representation of the European Commission (it is not necessary to create a Facebook profile).

11.12.2017 Round Table Grünstrom

The "Round Table Grünstrom - Universität für Bodenkultur" took place on Monday, December 11, 2017 from 11:00 to 13:30. Together with experts, the extent to which the purchase of UZ46 certified green electricity actually makes a greater contribution to climate protection than "green electricity" was discussed.

Initial situation at BOKU:
BOKU had an electricity consumption of 26,033 MWh in 2015. Electricity consumption results in 7,952 tonnes of CO2equivalent emissions (calculated with a current emission factor of 0.302 kg/kWh).
With UZ46 electricity, a low emission factor (0.018 kg/kWh) would be used, which would reduce CO2equivalent emissions to 475 tonnes.
BOKU currently obtains its electricity via EAA (Energie Allianz Austria) with the EAA Aqua tariff. EAA is a subsidiary of Wien Energie, EVN and Energie Burgenland. In the Stromanbieter-Check 2017, the company is classified as an "electricity supplier with a bitter taste".
According to estimates of external experts, the BOKU can therefore currently claim, according to the certificate, not to purchase fossil and nuclear power, but in fact it can be hydropower-compensated fossil power. Thus the BOKU is not a role model at the moment.
The Stromanbieter-Check 2017 was carried out by the WWF and Global 2000 and shows that only a few providers actually supply green electricity.

Preliminary conclusion:
In order to be able to select one of the two "real" green power suppliers for BOKU, the tender criteria of the Bundesbeschaffungsgesellschaft would have to be changed.
Switching to green electricity could entail additional costs. It must therefore be considered in advance whether the additional expenditure could be used to take other measures that are more suitable for reducing CO2 emissions.
An alternative approach would be to produce green electricity at BOKU - and possibly enter into cooperation with other universities. This could also generate added value by integrating these measurements into teaching and further research.