Developing integrated energy concepts for buildings and regions will become one of the most important tasks in the coming years and even decades. Economic and energy-efficient solutions must be found that are practical when put into use. Research and development in this new field of research is the central goal of the new Research Network for Sustainable Energy Engineering. (zafh.net)

The Research Network for Sustainable Energy Engineering zafh.net brings the universities and research institutions in Baden-Württemberg with their existing capabilities of developing integrated and practical energy concepts for buildings and regions together in order to make economic and energy-efficient solutions possible.

The research network develops concepts for sustainable cooling of buildings in summer and demonstrates their functionality at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences as well as in the concept building at the University in Biberach. An integrated building management and information system enables the online implementation of simulations that are run during operation and intelligent control strategies which allow systems and buildings to be operated optimally. The development of new software solutions creates tools that can be used in the planning phase for the dimensioning of innovative building technologies as well as for optimizing procedures over the course of the entire life cycle of the project. In addition to the experimental and theoretical testing of passive and hybrid cooling systems, new components for active thermal cooling production are being developed especially for lower-capacity units.