In the SINNergyTRANS project, detailed methodological profiles are developed for creating, accompanying and evaluating social innovations for the transformation of the energy system.

The project develops a basis for a regional, autonomous and robust energy cell that ensures a sufficient auxiliary (power) supply in case of failures in the transmission grid, caused by a blackout or a regional extreme weather condition.

In the project WATT's up ELMO?  children and adolescents explore in workshops together with experts various issues relating to the topics of electro mobility, sustainable power generation and related social and environmental aspects.

IFZ accompanies the first smart meter rollout of the company "Energienetze Steiermark" (provider of the styrian electricity grid) in a socioscientific way with the help of interviews and focus groups, in order to determine the concerns of the customers and to make recommendations for a socially acceptable introduction of smart meters.

The project Gebäudesoftskills (Buildingsoftskills) aims to both clarify complex interactions between the built environment and human needs and to complete and crosslink the established know-how of building experts with the knowledge of human sciences.

The aim of the project is to achieve a coverage of the building energy requirement of almost 100% with the solar technologies by activating and using the thermal storage devices which are part of the structural component.

IFZ war part of a one-year exploratory project "Smart City Frohnleiten", funded by the "Smart City Initiative" of the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund. In this one-year exploratory phase, the aim was to explore possibilities for sustainable urban development in the city of Frohnleiten.

The aim of this research project was the development of fundamentally new and intelligent energy supply systems via the façade of existing storey buildings, which allowed a high degree of integration of the active and passive building technology elements into prefabricated façade modules.

The core of the project was the active involvement of citizens in Hartberg. Several surveys with the population, qualitative interviews with stakeholders and participation events with citizens of Hartberg were carried out.

Aim of the project was to support standardization processes for the sustainable development of cities and municipalities and to involve stakeholders in these processes.

In the project, an evaluation of the Sunlighthouse in Preßbaum, Lower Austria was carried out according to the standard EN 16309 "Sustainability of buildings - evaluation of the social quality of buildings - methods".

New technologies and services for mobility, buildings, energy production, and manufacturing processes open up new courses of action for Styria and its economy.

The main objective of this project was to assess options for an increased implementation of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in Austria as a complementary instrument for stimulating voluntary actions to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions.

The project aimed to increase the integration of ventilation systems with heat recovery into social and multifamily housing. It investigated how central and semicentral ventilation systems are to be optimized, meaning equipped with simple distribution, installation, control and servicing, and prefabricated components.

Within the framework of the pilot project "Model home 2020", the “Sunlighthouse” in Pressbaum (Lower Austria) was built by VELUX Austria – the first carbon-neutral singl family house in Austria. From March 2012, the “Sunlighthouse” was occupied by a family that also tested its practicability. The "Sunlighthouse" was evaluated with measuring techniques (energy, heat, light, etc.) and in a socioscientific way (satisfaction of the residents, use comfort, living comfort etc.).

The Project investigated Indian experiences with the implementation and social organisation of village solar power plants on the Sunderban Islands in West Bengal, and their contribution to social and economic development, poverty reduction and climate adaptation.

60 Styrian architectural offices are consulted about innovative technologies regarding energy efficient behavior and how to increase their use of renewable energy.

The aim of the project was a better understanding and modeling of effects of user behavior on energy performance in office and service buildings, built with lowest energy building and plus-energy building techniques. The results support facility managers of office buildings and integrate gender and diversity issues.

Since 2004, the European Standardization Organization (CEN) has been developing a comprehensive standardization of the building assessment at European level within the framework of the Technical Committee 350 (Sustainability of construction works).

Comprehensive and comparable city profiles with a focus on climate and energy issues were developed for 20 selected Austrian “Smart Cities”.

The project BENE assessed the potential of active citizen engagement in energy issues to contribute to the promotion of more energy-aware lifestyles in Austria. It analysed necessary institutional frameworks as well as individual resources (e.g. financial, social, knowledge, time) and motivations (e.g. environmental values, societal norms, economic benefits) for engagement. Building on this analytical basis, it developed and implemented activation strategies for expanding the scope of existing initiatives and initiated a transfer of good practice models to further communities.

As basis for this project metrological results of multi floor passive house buildings, the analysis of the user behavior and the definition of quality criteria for “thermal comfort” and “user comfort” in passive house buildings were used.

The project aimed at bringing socially relevant issues and consumers perspectives into the discussion about smart metering in order to ensure a technology design which is socially sound, considering fundamental rights and user needs.

The project at hand investigated how actor roles, resources, and strategies as well as institutional frameworks relevant to energy cooperatives and similar forms of local ownership in the area of renewable energy technologies have developed over the last years.

By the development of a practical set of criteria and indicators of social sustainability (social compatibility) and by elaborating on a concept for the methodological use of this instrument in planning and running renewable energy plants as well as in establishing energy strategies and concepts, the goals of this project were reached.

The goal of the project was to develop a tool to support decision makers from politics and administration to reach a holistic evaluation and decision over a sustainable and/or ethically justifiable use of renewable energies.

TRANSPOSE investigates electricity saving potentials of private households. Starting point for this interdisciplinary research project is the question, why technological potentials to save electricity in households are not sufficiently harnessed.

The project tendsed to integrate aspects of efficiency in the use of energy and sustainability into architectural competitions in Austria without redefining the existing practice.

LCA comprises a comprehensive accounting of all material and energy inputs to the building throughout its life cycle and consolidates the results in the form of an environmental evaluation of the building. It can also be supplemented with a costs database in order to report in detail the economic costs incurred throughout the life cycle, known as Life Cycle Costing. The project aims to draw on the existing information generated from previous research projects regarding: design for low energy consumption, integrated planning, evaluating of environmental performance of building, design for sustainability and LCA techniques applied to buildings.

The project examined the contribution of Smart Meters to the energy reduction of private homes.

Aim of the research project was the optimization of the technology „ventilation system“ as basis for future planning and adjustment. 

The challenges caused by Peak Oil and Climate Change have to go along with a questioning of infrastructures and associated behaviour patterns, which had been developed under conditions when fossil energy sources were plenty and relatively cheap. After preparatory activities (literature review, assessment of the status quo of existing relevant initiatives in Austria, critical assessment of renewable energy sources´ potentials for Austria) four main workshops (dialogue boards) with different thematic focus and different composition of participants were conducted.

The project aims at a systematic and interactive engagement with socio-technical visions of potential energy futures and intends to support strategy development at the level of politics, programme management and firms involved in the scenario development process. The project thereby builds on the preceding strategy development process e2050 and complements quantitatively oriented energy scenario models.

In the project a general survey of centralised and semi-centralised mechanical ventilation systems in residential buildings was conducted and the technical solutions, the practical suitability und the acceptance of the occupants were evaluated. Criteria of quality and a planning guideline were developed.

Within the project IFZ investigates supportive framework conditions, potential fields of conflict and cooperation from a social science perspective.

The focus of the project is the question about new training perspectives in the field of trade by renewable energies.

This project is the continuation of the project "Innovative building concepts". Building projects within the framework of the programme "Building of Tomorrow" are evaluated concerning power engineering and building biology.

The European Technology Platform (ETP) ‘Smart Grids’ brought all relevant stakeholders together to create a common vision and to define a joint Strategic Research Agenda for Smart Grids. At present the Smart Grids Strategic Deployment Document (SDD) is being finalised, including the timeline and related actions to reach the common goals, including preparatory steps for market implementation.

Strategies to mitigate and adopt to climate change have to address different geographical scales and require mutually supporting activities at different governance levels. The project elaborates a process design for developing regional portfolios of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and applies this design in a participative strategy process for an alpine, rural district in Upper Styria (Murau).

The project aimed to develop strategies on how intelligent household appliances can contribute to load management in future energy systems. The IFZ examined the acceptance of users for the intelligent operation of household appliances. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey, interviews and focus groups were carried out in several European countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and England).

The aim of this project is a systematic review of socio-economic studies of “Building of Tomorrow” and an integration and presentation of concepts, tools and results which is suitable for building practitioners (especially architects, planners, building developers) and for institutions in research and education.

Based on established methods (SWOT-Analysis, Konstellations-analyse, Social Network Analysis) this project delivers decision making tools for units which are responsible for the coordination and/or funding of Energy Regions in order to support them in selecting appropriate activities and measures.

The most important final aim of this project relating to the aims of the program "Building of Tomorrow" is to collect positive solutions, mistakes and shortcomings. Based on experiences during the evaluation process a planning guideline and quality criteria for the future implementation of classroom ventilation systems in new buildings or the renovation of al-ready existing buildings are developed in order to improve the quality and to support the distribution of classroom ventilation systems.

Content of this project was an energy-technical and ecological analysis for the evaluation of innovative building projects within the program "Building of Tomorrow".

The result of the project should be verifiable, EU-wide standards for sustainable renovation measures on the one hand, and strategies to increase renovation rates in Europe on the other. The chosen perspective includes economic, ecological, technical and social aspects in order to ensure the broadest possible impact.

The research project will include the exemplary implementation and subsequently the improvement of two methods especially designed for user-involvement in technological innovation, namely 'Constructive Technology Assessment' and the 'Lead-User approach'.

The project aims at investigating the growing role and diversification of intermediate organisations (and the related functions of intermediation) in processes of innovation and technological change with a special emphasis on the issue of sustainable development.