Global climate change requires regional adaptation strategies.
The expertise of the iSPACE studio was in demand at one of Europe’s largest conferences on renewable energy, the “World Sustainable Energy Days 2013”: DI Stephan Hausl gave a presentation entitled “Effects of climate change on regional energy systems” at the young researchers’ conference “WSEDnext” and presented results on the energy requirements of buildings from the completed iSPACE research project CLEOS:
“The rise in temperatures caused by climate change is leading to a not inconsiderable decline in the demand for heat throughout Austria, while in the warm, southern regions of Austria, especially in the Feldbach model region in Styria, a sharp rise in cooling demand in summer is to be expected. If adequate passive cooling measures in buildings are not applied here, the future electricity demand of air conditioning systems could become a major challenge for electricity generation as well as for the electricity grids”.
says Stephan Hausl.
Hausl outlined region-specific scenarios for the expansion of the energy system with special consideration of local resources and climate change. “How much self-sufficiency through renewables (e.g. biomass, solar) is possible / sensible / economical?”.
The benefits are obvious: Electricity suppliers and network operators can use the expertise of the iSPACE studio to estimate peak electrical loads in summer, which provides the planning basis for adjustments to the system. Local heating network operators receive a spatial representation of decreasing heat demand densities, which can lead to less utilized heating networks.