zafh.net research

zafh.net is a network for the research of the energy consumption of buildings.
It was founded in the year 2002 as one of three centres of excellence in the region of Baden-Württemberg and allows universities of applied science from this region pool their expertise in the field of applied research and development.

Our team of researchers works on lowering the energy consumption of buildings and on making them energy efficient. Of the three main energy-consuming entities – buildings, industry and transportation – buildings, which make up 44%, play the largest role. Therefore it is necessary to present solutions that are economically as well as ecologically efficient and that have practical application in mind.

zafh.net esearches new technologies for the year-round use of renewable energies for cooling, heating and electricity production. Sustainable air-conditioning of buildings is a particularly innovative field of research as it involves the development of solar-thermal cooling machines, the use of near-surface geothermal technology as well as potential passive cooling.

New information technology solutions for building automation, automatic adjustment control of systems and the management of energy enable the optimization of buildings and plants while they are being used. We develop simulation models that are useful not only in the planning phase but can also be used to monitor operation online in order to detect errors and to optimize automatic regulation.

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