The Sustainable Buildings Group is aiming to develop and support energy efficient building systems that comply with the requirements of the 2000-Watt Society concept. This concept defines that a sustainable energy supply can only be guaranteed if the primary energy consumption is reduced to 2000 Watt per capita. Presently, the Swiss energy needs are still higher than 6000 Watt per capita.
We are focussing on tomorrow’s systems for energy conservation, heating, cooling and energy storage, as well as combined heat and power. All these systems should allow the operation of buildings nearly independently from fossil fuels.
The research aims at the integration of new materials and technologies for the design of new buildings and the renovation of existing buildings. System design and process optimisation are done in close cooperation with national and international industry partners.

Contact: Mark Zimmermann

Energy efficient retrofit of buildings
Mark Zimmermann  Stefan Carl

Sustainable renovation of historical buildings SuRHiB                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Mark Zimmermann   Viktor Dorer  Thomas Stahl  Jan Carmeliet   Karim Ghazi Wakili                       

SELF – A prototype for self sufficient living                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Mark Zimmermann

Heat storage
Robert Weber   Bejamin Fumey

Building energy systems
Robert Weber  Viktor Dorer