Research

The aim of this research project is to develop measures to improve Alterlaa's thermal performance and decarbonize its heating system as far as feasible. The potentials and risks are to be analyzed in technical, economic and social terms. The aim is to adopt a package of measures based on this. The motivation behind this submission is to develop the Alt Erlaa residential and retail park in Vienna's Liesing district, one of the largest residential complexes in Austria, into a climate-neutral neighborhood. Its builder and owner, the non-profit housing association GESIBA (represented by AEAG), has the concrete intention of implementing a comprehensive project in the near future with the components of thermal improvement and complete conversion from fossil fuels to climate-neutral energy sources. Preliminary work has already been carried out on the technical building planning. The exploratory study submitted in this case substantially strengthens and expands this project. The Alt Erlaa residential and retail park in Vienna Liesing comprises 3,200 apartments for approx. 9,000 people and 340,000 m² of gross floor area in three components. It was built between 1973 and 1985 by the non-profit developer GESIBA according to plans by the Viennese architect Harry Glück. On this scale, it is therefore a unique flagship project that demonstrates how decarbonization in the building sector can be achieved on a large scale.

The PoLaRecCE project aims to develop innovative tools and approaches to support land management practices to better adapt degraded soils to the environmental, social and economic needs of the local community. It is in line with the EU Green Deal policy and is a response to the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change. In Central Europe (CE), the sustainable management of agricultural soils contaminated or degraded by various human activities is an administrative and social challenge. In many regions of Europe, agricultural or marginal soils are contaminated by various types of pollutants. Moreover, these soils are still used for growing food and feed, leading to uncontrolled uptake of pollutants into the food chain. This project provides an innovative and coherent management program to restore agricultural activity on contaminated and marginal land. It also focuses on disseminating the knowledge and practical experience of European organisations from different climatic regions to implement the most up-to-date strategies for rapid remediation and restoration of degraded soils for non-food agricultural production. Such an approach preserves the basic functions of soil and minimises the transfer of pollutants from soil to the food chain. Taking up non-food agricultural production is seen as an alternative source of income for farmers. In the case of brownfields managed by municipalities, this project will propose their conversion into more environmentally friendly areas. Selected pilot areas (0.5-2 ha) in different regions of CE will be established to test the most innovative methods for rapid detection of different pollutants. If the soil needs remediation, the most appropriate and cost-effective techniques will be promoted to strengthen sustainable environmental management practices and enable non-food agriculture. It is also planned to carry out an economic calculation of the proposed solutions, focusing on the needs of local markets.

A commercial building is being constructed in Engelhartszell that is as sustainable, resource-saving and circular as possible. To this end, research questions regarding the use of materials and the building's energy supply are being investigated. In a first step, the materials and technologies to be used are determined on the basis of a comprehensive literature review. In a second step, various HVAC concepts are developed in combination with a suitable heat distribution system. The next step is to model the building in a building simulation environment in order to simulate different variants of the wall structure and energy generation, but also to be able to map the effects on comfort and the indoor climate. In a final phase, the results are collected and summarized in a final report.