SmartQ+ Bruck/Leitha - Energy saving potentials through neighbourhood and community planning

Status

ongoing

Starting point / motivation

In order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (Paris Agreement), in addition to the switch to sustainable energy sources and the creation of energy-efficient buildings, transport in particular offers a major lever for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gases.

The increasing demand for emission-free mobility (e.g. electro mobility) but also the supply of heat via heat pumps has a direct impact on the electricity consumption of buildings and settlements. It is still difficult to simulate the effects and interactions of measures that affect the settlement structure (densities, distribution and mix of uses), mobility and transport.

Through concepts of sustainable urban development with a focus on qualitative redensification and a mix of uses in settlements, many trips can be replaced by walking or cycling instead of going by car which both reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Sector coupling concepts require comprehensible tools for ex ante evaluation of planning measures at the community level and the linking of domain-specific models (energy, transport) for small-scale forecasting models. Also data availability and data quality for the simulation models used are very heterogeneous at different scales.

Contents and goal

Therefore, a digital twin of the municipality of Bruck an der Leitha based on an open data model will be built for the method development, which can be used to simulate measures to improve the settlement structure within the municipality (Fig. 1).

The project pursues an interdisciplinary approach in which transport demand models are linked for the first time with energy simulations that can depict small-scale phenomena at a local level. An interactive visualisation will serve as a basis for communication and enable a cooperative interdisciplinary discussion of the model results, which are created on the basis of development scenarios and variants.

For this purpose, forecast models for mobility, the energy network and the building stock are developed or applied and linked via the open data model in order to be able to run through development scenarios and variants based on concrete questions.

The forecasting and visualisation options created in the project form the basis for the ex-ante evaluation of measures and policies on the way to a Positive-Energy-District. By identifying and collecting missing data, data gaps are filled for the simulation of precise models in the specific study area.

Methods

The IT ecosystem developed in the FFG project "SIMULTAN" with its open data model already offers the possibility to hold buildings with specific parameters (usage information, geometry, construction technology and building services engineering) as a building model. Building on this, data for energy consumption simulations and forecasts are now provided for the settlement and the influence on the networks is analysed. The concepts, building models, network models must first be created, and the building and network data must be collected.

Based on this, a coupled network and building simulation can then be carried out and the influence of mobility analysed using scenarios. With the help of the open data model, it is possible to hold the data and then forward it to the proof-of-concept visualisation. The meaningful data visualisation helps to discuss and evaluate the model results in cooperative and communicative processes involving different experts and actors.

Expected results

A proof-of-concept for an intuitive decision support tool in the form of a digital, interactive 3D model will be created to examine the forecast results and the different scenarios. This will serve as a communication and decision-making tool to improve planning and policy measures to achieve energy efficient and self-sufficient settlement structures.

In addition to the development of the simulation model, modules for specific questions about the effectiveness of changes in the settlement structure (mix of uses, mobility, ...) with regard to the energy balance of neighbourhoods, interface definitions and data descriptions for the simulation of entire settlement systems are created. The open data model used allows the comparison of results of different simulation models.

Project management

TU Wien - Institute of Spatial Planning, Research Unit of Local Planning - Spatial Simulation Lab (Simlab)

Project or cooperation partners

• TU Wien - Institute of Material Technology, Building Physics, and Building Ecology - Research field building physics
• Energypark Bruck/Leitha
• y-Verkehrsplanung GmbH

TU Vienna
Institute of Spatial Planning, Research Unit of Local Planning
Spatial Simulation Lab (Simlab)
Karlsgasse 11
A-1040 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (1) 58801 280430
E-mail: stefan.bindreiter@tuwien.ac.at
Web: https://simlab.tuwien.ac.at