ÖGUT Environmental Award for Plus-Energy-Quarter PEQ21 – UAS Technikum Wien is project partner

The Austrian Society for Environment and Technology (ÖGUT) awards its environmental prize for technological and social innovations that reduce energy and resource consumption and contribute to social sustainability. ÖGUT awarded the prize for the 35th time at its annual reception at the end of March. A jury of independent experts from business, administration and the environment selected the winners in six categories from almost 90 submissions. In the category “Innovation and City” the project “PEQ21” was awarded with the project consortium “Future Quarter 2.0”, in which the competence field “Climate Fit Technologies” of the FH Technikum Wien is also involved.

In addition to the Technikum, the project partners include the “Smart City Agency” Urban Innovation Vienna (UIV), which is also the project leader, as well as the Institute of Building Research & Innovation (IBR&I), the developer SÜBA, the consulting company hacon GmbH and the construction company BÖHM.  As part of PEQ21, the consortium is working on the implementation of Austria’s first urban plus-energy quarter. This is to be built at Pilzgasse 33 in Vienna’s 21st district from summer 2022.

PEQ21: Climate-positive energy balance in an urban context

The new construction project with a usable floor space of around 26,500 m² is characterized by a high level of on-site generation and efficient use of renewable energies. The focus is on the optimized dovetailing of residential and commercial areas within the neighborhood as well as networking with the city’s overarching energy system. The aim is to implement a climate-positive energy balance for a building project in a dense urban context.

The jury was impressed by the project’s holistic neighborhood approach (load coverage through the coupling of services and housing) and its high reproducibility. Another strength of the project was the comprehensive integration of all relevant stakeholders from practice and science in the cooperative planning process, the jury said.

The energy concept of the Plus Energy Quarter is based on a highly efficient building envelope, building component activation in conjunction with a complex heat pump system and a ground probe field with approximately 90 boreholes of 150 m each. This provides not only heat but also cooling, as well as a sophisticated ventilation concept that keeps the roof surfaces free for solar energy use. Last but not least, the heart of the quarter is a PV system on the roof and on the facade, which, with a planned PV output of a total of around 650 kWpeak (approx. 2 kWp/100 m² GFA), corresponds to three times the required energy according to the Vienna Building Code.

Category “Women in Environmental Technology”: Award to UASTW lecturer

Within the framework of the ÖGUT Environmental Award, three awards were also presented in the category “Women in Environmental Technology”. The awards here go to female experts in the field of applied environment-related research and technology development. Bernadette Fina, a lecturer from the FH Technikum Wien, was also honored in this category. Fina works as a scientist at the Austrian Institute of Technology and teaches the lecture “Energy Communities” at the Technikum.