Experts from Mistra Carbon Exit in Vienna to discuss buildings practices
Representatives from Mistra Carbon Exit ReConstruct had interesting discussions in Vienna.
Experts from Mistra Carbon Exit and the Austrian buildings initiative ReConstruct recently met in Vienna to discuss how to pioneer building practices.
On October 19 and 20, 2023, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action hosted the workshop “Rethinking the Future of Construction” in Vienna with the aim to identify best practice examples as pioneers for innovations in construction. The workshop is part of the ReConstruct international research platform[1] – a project focusing on the future of buildings and construction technologies. Experts from the Swedish research programme Mistra Carbon Exit were invited to present their views and experiences.
The Swedish partners showed results for greenhouse gas savings with a potential of up to 50% along the supply chains in buildings by using already available technologies. These results are particularly relevant to the future of construction.
Austrian researchers and representatives from the construction sector presented successful innovations for the building stock and new building concepts. These innovations range from building materials to urban developments with highly integrated and localized energy systems. These emerging concepts for construction extend the scope from single buildings to ensembles of buildings, which are called quarters and areas, and aim to provide the services of livable cities. The entire value chain of buildings is considered for evaluating their impacts on emissions and resources over the life cycle of buildings, including the reuse of materials. Finally, energy hub concepts are checked for innovative localized energy systems that support highly efficient energy services by low-temperature thermal so-called energy grids linked to geothermal energy and ample use of locally available renewable energies.
[1] ReConstruct is an international research platform dealing with future building and construction technologies. The platform is hosted by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) in Vienna, the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, and the Wegener Center of the University of Graz. The platform is supported by the Association of Building Materials and Ceramic Industries of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. For more information, please visit the ReConstruct website https://www.rethinkconstruction.net/
From left: Lars Zetterberg, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Filip Johnsson and Ida Karlsson, Chalmers University of Technology, represented Mistra Carbon Exit.
Read the article Climate-friendly and sustainable building. This article on the workshop was first published in Wohnen plus magazine.