We live in an era of increasing urbanization. The future of our children will be more urban. Globally, 1 million people move from rural to urban areas every week. After a full year's extrapolation, this is equivalent to the population of eight cities and the area of New York. As a result, urban centers must produce and consume as clean energy as possible.
In the future, the structure of cities should be more sustainable – moving from urban sprawl to densification – and they should also better manage energy, for example by producing their own energy in a sustainable way. This trend is increasingly being incorporated into urban planning paradigms, for example in the form of façade-integrated solar collectors, passive house construction methods, and photovoltaic modules for buildings. Compiled by Chen Jiaoyun
Another possibility is to think of cities as energy sponges. That is, using the city as a battery allows it to store energy for a longer period of time. Austria has already done a great deal of groundwork in its research and technical programmes and is one of the pioneers in this field. Within the framework of the "House of Tomorrow" program, the project was successfully carried out on the research problem "Heating and cooling of concrete" (activation of thermal components).
This planning guide summarizes the findings of these research projects and shows in detail how energy can be stored in solid components over an extended period of time and retrieved again at any point in time. This innovation is very economical and energy-efficient. Although it will initially be used on a small scale and in demonstration buildings, it is an important step in the right direction to organize the energy supply of the entire region in an environmentally friendly way. With this particular achievement, we are undoubtedly closer to our goal of designing, planning and building cities more sustainably.
