Green Tech Magazine May 2019 en

GREEN TECH MAGAZINE
May 2019
Cover photo: shutterstock.com
Green Urban Life
How Graz puts the new city to
the test
Green Tech Jam
Hotspot for young green talent
Lifestyle check
How green is your lifestyle?

carbon pricing initiatives
Carbon price
(US$/tCO 2 e)
2 CONTENTS
US$ 150/
tCO 2 e
US$ 125/
tCO 2 e
Sweden
carbon tax
Share of emissions covered and carbon
pricing revenues of implemented
carbon pricing initiatives
DEAR READERS,
across the world, urban spaces
are trialling innovative projects
establishing the sustainable cities
of the future. Graz is developing
a new district, Smart City, to promote
green energy, healthy mobility
and intelligent planning, with
everything from regional energy
production and storage to innovative
building technologies through
to urban farming.
Water is the source of all life and
the Wasserland Steiermark companies
are bubbling over with innovation
and expertise on resource
conservation, water treatment, irrigation
systems, hydropower and
the cooling of public spaces.
Styria is a hotspot for young green
talent, as the creative ideas that
emerged from the interdisciplinary
student Green Tech Jam hackathon
prove. And the JOANNEUM
RESEARCH lifestyle check shows
what each and every one of us
needs to do to have a sustainable
lifestyle. How green is your lifestyle?
We hope you will enjoy reading
and being inspired by the articles
that follow.
Bernhard Puttinger
and the Green Tech Cluster Styria
Team
04
Green Talent
Winners of the Green Tech Jam
push electricity at “High Noon”
Page 07
Lifestyle check
How green is
your lifestyle?
Page 12
Partners: Österreichisches Umweltzeichen, eco label, PEFC, FSC
08
Smart City
Sustainable energy
and mobility in Graz
Page 04
Fresh Green Tech
Styrian solid-state battery
wins coveted award
Page 08
Publication details: Media owner and publisher: Green Tech Cluster Styria GmbH, Waagner-Biro-Straße 100, 8020 Graz, Austria, Tel.:
+43 316 40 77 44-0, welcome@greentech.at, www.greentech.at. Content and project management: Andreas
Pompenig, Bernhard Puttinger | Production: Die Steirerin Verlags GmbH & Co KG, Schubertstraße 29/1, 8010 Graz,
Tel.: +43 316 84 12 12-0, www.diesteirerin.at | Print: Schmidbauer GmbH, www.derschmidbauer.at
07
14
12
Latest
highlights
Land of water
Where innovation
bubbles up
Page 14
Did youknow?
The next
boating revolution
Page 16
16
Photo credits: Green Tech Cluster, Bernhard Bergmann, Bauer Group, Atelier für Architektur, Cameron Venti, Tom Trenkle
Photo credits: EPS/Pushkar, Denise Hastert @ Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 4.0, www.worldbank.org, Shutterstock, Graphic: provided
World News
Carbon dioxide taxes on the rise
88 participants, they are responsible for 56 % of all greenhouse gas
emissions worldwide, agreed at the Paris Climate Conference on
climate protection targets. Compulsory carbon dioxide taxes were
one of the key instruments agreed. According to a report by the
World Bank, 51 international, national and regional environmental
programmes have so far included carbon dioxide taxes. These cover
eleven gigatonnes of CO 2
, or around 20 % of greenhouse gases globally.
Carbon dioxide taxes brought in 82 billion USD in 2018 and 52
billion USD in 2017. Sweden is at the forefront with over 130 USD per
tonne of CO 2
, followed by Liechtenstein and Switzerland, each with
around 100 USD/t and Finland with 75 USD/t. www.worldbank.org
Global energy production growth 2018 (selected regions)
in MTOE (Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent)
Free transport for all in Luxembourg
Luxembourg is forging ahead with a far‐reaching switch to public
transport. From March 2020, not only city residents but also all tourists
will be able to use public transport free of charge. Anyone wanting to
travel within the EU’s second smallest state by bus, tram or train will
only need to show their ID or passport instead of a ticket. The initiative
is being financed by EUR 41 million from tax revenues. Luxembourg
isn't the only country in Europe introducing this kind of measure. The
Estonian capital of Tallinn is also pioneering free public transport.
People registered in the city have been able to use trams, buses and
trains free of charge since 2013, and 8 % more people now travel by
bus and train in Tallinn. www.luxembourg.public.lu
US$ 100/
tCO 2 e
US$ 75/
tCO 2 e
US$ 50/
tCO 2 e
US$ 25/
tCO 2 e
US$ 0/
tCO 2 e
Spain
carbon tax
Liechtenstein
carbon tax
UK carbon
price floor
Iceland
carbon tax
France
carbon tax
Switzerland Latvia
ETS carbon Slovenia
tax carbon tax
Estonia
Chile
carbon
carbon
tax
Colombia
tax
carbon tax
Portugal
Poland carbon tax
carbon tax
RGGI
Switzerland
carbon tax
Finland
carbon tax
Denmark
carbon tax
Alberta carbon tax
EU ETS
Alberta CCIR
Ireland carbon tax
Norway
carbon tax
Mexico
carbon
tax
Shanghai
pilot ETS
Guangdong
pilot ETS
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Share of GHG emissions covered in the jurisdiction
Note: The size of the circles is proportional to the amount of government revenues except for initiatives with government revenues below US$100 million in 2017;
the circles of these initiatives have an equal size. For illustrative purposes only, the nominal prices on April 1, 2018 and the coverages in 2018 are shown. The carbon
tax rate applied in Mexico and Norway varies with the fossil fuel type and use. The carbon tax rate applied in Denmark varies with the GHG type. The graph shows the
average carbon tax rate weighted by the amount of emissions covered at the different tax rates in those jurisdictions. The middle point of each circle corresponds to
the price and coverage of that initiative.
Renewables are growing
The latest statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on
energy and CO 2
developments present a mixed picture. Global energy
consumption rose in 2018 by 2.3 %, almost twice the yearly average
since 2010. CO 2
emissions grew by 1.7 % worldwide, whilst decreasing
by 1.3 % in Europe. The relative growth in renewables by 4 % compared
with the previous year, meeting 15 % of global energy needs,
is encouraging. China and Europe played a leading role here, with
solar PV, hydropower, wind energy and biomass all seeing growth.
Renewables represent a quarter of all growth, or 45 % of electricity
generation growth for 2018. www.iea.org/geco/
Sunny Outlook for India
California CaT
Ukraine carbon tax
India now has around 1.3 billion inhabitants – and its electricity demand
is growing rapidly. To keep down CO 2
emissions, the Indian government
wants to raise production of renewable energy to 175 gigawatts by
2022. This corresponds to a share of 50 percent of the total “energy
pie”. Advantage: The production of solar power is significantly more
lucrative in India than in Northern Europe, for example – the sun has
more power and shines more constantly. As in the southern Indian
state of Karnataka, where a 700,000 square metre solar energy plant
has been operational since the beginning of 2018, supplying 72,000
people in the region with clean solar energy. It is also planned to use
wind, biomass and hydropower as sources of renewable energy over
the next three years. www.dw.com
Japan
carbon
tax
BC carbon tax
Ontario
CaT
Québec CaT

4
The new
urban lifestyle
The public space is
designed to give priority
to pedestrians.
The city of the future focuses on sustainability, compactness and
high quality of life, facilitated by an intelligent mix of technology. Innovative
city projects are being trialled and implemented, right across the globe.
The Smart City of Graz is taking a new approach to urban development
at the interface between energy, mobility and route optimisation.
Technologies in Smart City, Graz
The 21st century is the century of cities.
By 2050 around 70 percent of the world’s
population will be living in an urban environment.
Cities are therefore facing great
challenges in relation to energy production
and supply, transport, and urban life. In the
city of the future, technological innovation
will be intertwined with a sustainable lifestyle.
Cities across the world are developing intelligent
resource conservation strategies.
New York has the inspiring High Line Park,
a sustainably converted stretch of disused
elevated railway. In the planned city
of Songdo in South Korea and the Västra
Hamnen district of Malmö (Sweden), waste
is removed via electronically‐controlled
pipe systems. In Masdar City in the United
Arab Emirates, the heat of the day is stored
in giant sun umbrellas and then released to
warm the plaza in the cool desert nights.
A number of metropolitan areas in Asia,
Africa and Latin America such as the
Bolivian capital La Paz and Bogotá in
Colombia, have introduced cable cars to
tackle street‐level congestion. The massive
urbanisation of many regions in Africa offers
tremendous opportunities for developing
and investing in intelligent electricity
and water supply.
Compact City
The city of Graz’s new My Smart City and
Reininghaus districts are also breaking new
ground in terms of urban development.
“Our aim is to create a compact city, where
residents can have a sustainable way of life,
with a public park, centralised mobility hot
spots for e‐car sharing, bicycle sharing stations,
e-taxis and optimal public transport
links,” explains Kai‐Uwe Hoffer, the urban
development manager responsible for the
Smart City.
“Reininghaus and the Smart City give us
the opportunity not only to develop small
plots but entire districts. Lighthouse projects
such as the Science Tower with over
100 jobs have already been completed, and
the primary school with places for a total
of 600 children will open next year on the
school campus,” says Mayor Siegfried Nagl
happily.
The construction of the Helmut List Hall
and the Science Tower kicked off the development
of an eco‐friendly, low‐emission
urban space on the 80,000 m 2 around the
central station, with the highest quality of
life and the use of the latest energy technology.
Graz architect Markus Pernthaler
has had strategic oversight of the project
from the start, and as the designer of the
Helmut List Halle and the Science Tower set
their planning milestones. The Science Tower
itself is also a leading light, featuring pioneering
technology such as dye-sensitised
solar cells and specialised ultralight glass.
“Sustainability is the common thread in the
competitions for the projects that are now
being implemented. It means ensuring that
our planning and building processes deal
with resources in a future-proof manner,
and that the people here are housed and live
sustainably,” explains Markus Pernthaler. The
use of regional materials plays an important
role. “We have to focus on this too – it’s the
only way to make the project a model for future
urban development,” says Pernthaler.
Treasure Trove of Green Data
Projects at the Smart City Tech Lab are
showing how technology in the area is being
used sustainably for the whole city and
helping to improve its environment: “The
Styrian business t‐matix solutions has developed
sensors for the city of Graz that
provide data on fine dust, temperature, humidity
and atmospheric pressure at critical
locations. This creates a data hub that enables
us to react rapidly to any changes,”
explains Johann Koinegg of the Green Tech
Cluster.
Photo credits: Atelier für Architektur AAPS, Shutterstock
Autarkic heating
and cooling:
Two suction wells
almost 40 metres deep
and two dry wells heat
or cool groundwater
thermally depending
on the season.
Urban farming
for award-winning
restaurant:
Salad and vegetables
for the award-winning
Streets restaurant are
harvested fresh every
day in the Science
Tower. The 13th floor
of the Tower has its
own microclimate that
makes this possible.
Together with Environmental Agency Graz
and Holding Graz, a consortium made up of
A1, Nokia, IBM and Next Sense has developed
a mobile environmental data sensor.
Sensors in three buses and three trams supply
data on fine dust, nitrogen oxide, etc.
Solar power:
Extensive photovoltaic
systems on the roofs
supply the necessary
electricity.
Innovative energy
and building
technology:
The Science Tower’s
transparent energy
glass with dye-sensitised
technology
constitute the world’s
biggest demonstration
installation. The merely
three millimetre thick
glass on the façade
enables new architectural
approaches and is
manufactured with one
third of the resources.
Central district
management
platform:
All locally-available
services such as rental
contracts, utilities
invoicing, car sharing
options and multiple use
of underground parking
spaces are bundled in a
single system.
Intelligent
cooling system:
Droplet misting
ensures the building
has a pleasant interior
climate.
Patten recognition enables the city to identify
and reduce unusually high levels of fine
dust for the first time. Analytical tools administered
by Graz company Bike Citizens
aim to provide information on the “loosening”
of bicycle traffic in the city, as Elisabeth
Green Lab for
greening façades
and roofs:
A demonstration “urban
box” tests planting
for the building, along
with biodiversity, rainwater
management,
efficient energy supply
and the use of renewable
energy sources.
E-mobility hubs:
Hotspots for e-cars,
e-taxis, bike sharing
and public transport
links. The use of matrix
charging technology
enables fully-automated
charging of electric vehicles
without charging
cables.
Felberbauer of Bike Citizen knows. Together
with A1, Graz start-up Invenium gathers
data on tourist and commuter traffic and
on mobile telephone usage, in order to provide
the city with information for transport
planning such as traffic signal controls.

6 GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 7
The winning team with Armin Schöpf and Alexander
Malik: their app is intended to make users aware of how to
properly harness green solar energy.
A third of the waste generated
is construction and demolition waste.
Together with seven European regions,
Styria is developing strategies
for improving the recycling
of building materials.
Construction waste
in the loop
The federal government of Styria (Das Land Steiermark) is actively working to
introduce construction waste into the closed-loop recycling process.
In the EU a huge amount of waste comes
from the construction sector: A third of
the waste generated is construction and
demolition waste, and that's not including
excavated soil material. These figures are
the reason why Department 14 of the Styrian
government (Department of Waste Management
and Sustainability) has been an
active partner in the EU CONDEREFF project
(Construction & demolition waste management
policies for improved resource efficiency)
since 2018. This international cooperation
aims to improve strategies for a
resource-efficient economy. This goal will
be achieved through cooperation among
the regions as well as a regular exchange
of experience and knowledge among the
eight European partners.
Furthermore, the large amounts of waste
are the reason why the EU is committing
more strongly to the “Construction and
Demolition Waste Management Protocol”.
This protocol is intended to promote Europe’s
transition to a circular economy as
part of the EU's circular economy pact.
Particular attention will be paid to developing
efficient rules and procedures in order
to adapt the legal framework accordingly.
By anchoring the provisions of the
protocol in regional strategies and directives,
CONDEREFF is setting its sights on
further progress.
Styria, together with seven other European
partners, has committed itself to implementing
the protocol. The agreed objectives are
to be achieved through appropriate waste
management with the help of a thorough
exchange of experience, knowledge transfer
and best practice examples. Until 2023,
mechanisms will be developed in Styria in
close cooperation with the regional stakeholders
with the aim of increasing the circulation
of recycled materials. In addition,
these measures relieve landfill and primary
raw materials resources. To achieve this, actions
and measures will be continually set.
The proportion of impurities rises and the
possibility for recycling falls when construction
and demolition waste are mixed. A key
element in all measures, therefore, is the separate
collection of individual waste types at
construction sites in order to enable the recycling
of each respective waste type.
www.interregeurope.eu/condereff
Photo credits: Shutterstock
App activates electricity consumption
at high noon
Armin Schöpf and Alexander Malik won this year's Green Tech Jam together
with their team. Their mobile app encourages people to turn on electrical devices
when the sun is producing the most electricity.
Photo credits: Green Tech Cluster
Armin Schöpf and Alexander Malik are
spokesmen for the four-man team which
won “Green Tech Jam 2019”. Their idea to
optimise the way individuals use the electricity
from photovoltaic plants (PV) with
a mobile app impressed the public most
at Green Tech Jam 2019. "The challenge
was to get the inhabitants of an apartment
block to use electricity when the PV plant
produces the most electricity – usually between
11 and 2 midday, at high noon so to
speak. This gave us the idea to develop a
mobile app which allows the tenants to
switch on smart washing machines, robot
vacuum cleaners or dishwashers exactly
when the sun produces the most electricity,”
explains Armin Schöpf. After all,
electricity consumption can be reduced by
as much as 30% by adjusting the times at
which electronic devices are used. “It was
also about making app users more aware
of how to properly use green solar energy,”
adds Alexander Malik. Not only do tenants
notice the increase in efficiency because
their electricity bill is lower, but they are
also awarded points for their intelligent
Wolfgang Jilek's Cartoon
„Total Recycling”
use of electricity which they can redeem in
online shops.
Armin Schöpf is 21 years old and comes
from Fulpmes in Stubaital, Tyrol. He is in his
4th semester at TU Graz, where he studies
software development and business management.
"I’m really interested in the subject
of energy saving in the context of my
course too. I’m also involved in business
consulting for students,” Armin Schöpf
elaborates on his interests. After finishing
his studies, Schöpf wants to implement
green innovations, perhaps in the Science
Park. Furthermore, he is already part of a
start-up that specialises in identifying nutrients
in agricultural land.
Alexander Malik, 25, comes from Gütersloh
in Germany. He encountered the problem
of waste while travelling extensively in
Southeast Asia and Australia, and devoted
himself to the topic of recycling. He studies
recycling technology at the University
of Leoben and came second at Green
Tech Jam 2018, so he's even happier to
have clinched first this year. He also works
in a start-up: “Schrott24” digitalises scrap
trading. Malik sees his professional future
in smart cities, as a way to make cities,
businesses and households more sustainable
through green technologies & concepts.

8 GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 9
Fresh
Green Tech
Wind & PV being turned into green gas
As part of a research project, Graz University of Technology, along
with its project partners VERBUND and German firm Sunfire, is setting
up a demonstration plant at the thermal power station in Mellach,
intended to investigate whether carbon‐neutrally produced hydrogen
can be used in the plant as a replacement for fossil gas. The Hotflex
pilot plant takes surplus wind and solar power from the grid and converts
it to hydrogen using high‐temperature electrolysis. A carbon
neutral fuel, this “green” hydrogen is mixed with natural gas to drive
the two gas turbines.
www.sunfire.de
New CD laboratory for circular economy
The University of Graz’s new Christian Doppler laboratory for Sustainable
Product Management in a Circular Economy is putting sustainable
products and services under the microscope. The CD laboratory
is developing methods, instruments and concepts that will
promote sustainable product management, including a comprehensive
life cycle study incorporating reuse and service life extension. In
the coming years, CD laboratory director Rupert Baumgartner and
his team will make global supply chains greener. Their initial priorities
will be the automotive and packaging industries.
www.cdg.ac.at
Biodiesel from used
cooking oil for Mumbai
Styrian biodiesel pioneer Münzer from Sinabelkirchen has opened a
waste‐based biodiesel production plant in the Indian metropolis of
Mumbai. Annual capacity is 3.6 million litres. It addresses three challenges
in one go: used cooking oil is collected instead of being disposed
of via the sewage system; it supports decarbonisation of the
traffic and transport sectors; and it reduces dependence on imports
of fossil fuels. The company was founded in 1991 and the new plant on
the subcontinent is its first outside of Europe.
www.muenzer.at
Porsche subsidiary MOON relies on NRGkick
Porsche subsidiary and e‐mobility specialist MOON relies on the
expertise of Southern Styrian manufacturer DiniTech. Together, the
two companies have developed the MOON2Go mobile charging unit,
based on the NRGkick system, which is well‐established throughout
Europe. The complete MOON2Go set consists of an intelligent charging
unit with up to 22 kW, adapters for all standard sockets and a case.
The flexibility of the system means that electric vehicles can access all
power sources, and can be charged anywhere. DiniTech was founded
in 2012 and is a service provider and manufacturer of own brand
charging technology products for electric cars. www.nrgkick.com
Styria's outstanding solid-state battery
The first solid state battery with integrated circuit board, the Cera-
Charge by TDK Electronics in Deutschlandsberg, has won technology
publishing company Nikkei’s renowned Superior Products and
Services Award for Excellence. CeraCharge can be charged and
discharged up to 1,000 times without any appreciable loss in performance.
Its specialised design (solid state electrolytes) also means
that the risk of fire, explosion or leakage of fluid electrolytes is practically
nil. The ceramic battery triumphed over more than 20,000 new
products and services.
www.tdk-electronics.tdk.com
Photo credit: The Boeing Company, Münzer Bioindustrie, SSP, Tom Trenkle/TDK, DiniTech, tongpatong, Montage: hope-design.at, Uni Graz/Tzivanopoulos, AEE INTEC
New life for
used batteries
The Green Energy Lab's second life batteries 4 storage project focuses
on the reuse of electric mobility batteries, combining second life
batteries into larger stationary power stores and using them to allow
peak shaving and in‐house supply optimisation in the industrial sector.
These storage systems are important to enable fluctuating renewable
energy sources to be integrated into the grid. The storage plant has
an output of 100kW and is being tested at the Unterpremstätten and
Bremerhaven sites.
www.greenenergylab.at
The intelligent heat
supply of the future
One in four houses in Austria already has district heating. The
aim of the 8 million Euro ThermaFLEX pilot project being run
in the Green Energy Lab is to make this system more flexible
and increase the proportion of heat from CO 2
-free sources. Under
the leadership of AEE INTEC working with 27 project partners,
over the next four years it will set up seven demonstration
plants, the Gleisdorf virtual heating plant, low carbon
district heating for the city of Leibnitz and the Energy Island Weiz.
www.greenenergylab.at/thermaflex
New microgrid research laboratory
BIOENERGY 2020+, a COMET programme K1 Competence Centre, has
set up a new microgrid research laboratory with the aim of studying
all aspects of microgrid technology under laboratory conditions. Sophisticated
micro‐networks (microgrids) will in future enable renewable
energy sources to be optimised to deliver a 100 % decentralised
energy supply (for power, heating and cooling). This will enable better
prevention of problems with supply such as the power failures caused
by the snow conditions in January 2019. Decentralised energy supplies
will supplement existing supply systems, relieve pressure on networks
and reduce the need for expensive grid expansion.

10
Cluster News
GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 11
USA and China
push recycling
Global recycling markets are experiencing
dynamic growth and offer business
opportunities for environmental technology
companies. Increasing volumes of waste
and tougher regulatory requirements mean
that China and the USA are coming to the
fore and catching up with Europe.
China has tightened its regulation of the
waste management industry and of environmental
protection in the last 20 years. It
now imposes more stringent requirements
on the construction of landfill sites than
Germany. The Far Eastern country is focussing
on large-scale environmental projects
and is currently switching to thermal processing
– above all in its cities. Progress with
separation of waste and the introduction of
modern recycling systems will bring business
opportunities for technology providers
in the medium term.
Many waste management export markets have
great potential for development. The USA and China
represent major opportunities for the recycling industry.
Sustainable construction conference in Graz
Graz University of Technology is hosting the Sustainable Built
Environment D-A-CH Conference 2019 in Graz (SBE19 Graz) from 11
to 14 September 2019. More than 400 participants form 20 countries
will discuss the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development (Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs) in the
construction sector. The conference will be supported by the Green
Tech Cluster and will focus on the evaluation and certification of
sustainable life cycles, including: evaluation of environmental products;
design and manufacturing processes with a view to integrating design
processes and life cycles; the Cities and Infrastructure theme is taking
a close look at the circular economy for environmental buildings;
under Innovation & Implementation the focus will include innovative
products and systems for sustainable buildings.
www.tugraz.at/en/events/sbe19
Lean innovation for businesses
Both start-ups and established businesses can develop their
products and services quickly, cost-effectively and successfully
using the lean start-up principles of build – measure – learn. The
Green Tech Cluster’s Green & Lean Innovation workshop is tailored
to individual businesses, applying the underlying principles,
developing the Lean Canvas tool, and defining hypotheses for
iterative customer integration in order to maximise the rate of
learning. The lean canvas and lean start-up methods are also
available in the Green Tech Cluster Plug & Play Innovation Box.
Contact details: Tobias Schwab, +43 316 407744 14,
schwab@greentech.at www.greentech.at/innovationsbox
Three trends for China
Three trends worth watching for China:
Separation of waste is not working, and this
is leading to major problems, above all with
thermal processing. The switch from untreated
landfill storage to thermal processing
is being accelerated in order to generate
energy. There are plans to increase capacity
for treatment of biological waste to
40,000 tonnes per day by 2020. In summary:
The construction of new recycling, sorting,
composting, fermentation and incineration
plants will continue to be a major issue
in the coming years.
The USA also has enormous potential for
environmental technology companies
wanting to enter the US waste market in
future. These opportunities result from the
country’s increasing volumes of waste, the
growth in sustainability initiatives and increased
regulatory requirements for sorting
and waste disposal businesses.
Federal states regulate recycling
The recycling and disposal of waste in the
USA is primarily regulated by individual
states, so each state has its own rules. In
Florida, waste processing facilities have recently
been required to separate construction
and demolition waste on the basis of
recyclability. The Government of Illinois also
has specific directives for the disposal and
recycling of waste: batteries, waste oil and
tyres may not be disposed of at rubbish
dumps.
Statutory guidelines focus on reducing and
recycling waste. California, with its nine programmes,
is the leader in the USA. Participation
in the programmes gives green tech
businesses the opportunity to gather information
about sector bottlenecks and market
difficulties.
Photo credits: Shutterstock
Photo credits: Green Tech Cluster, Shutterstock
Young people shape a green future
The interdisciplinary student hackathon Green Tech Jam 2019 was
dedicated to creative environmental technology solutions. Students
puzzled over new digital services for two days and were awarded a
prize of 5,000 Euros. Three teams all emerged victorious, winning
over the jury with their creative solutions. The first team developed
a mobile app enabling individuals to optimise their use of PV systems
in shared occupancy buildings. The second winning team came up
with an exciting virtual reality recycling plant. The third team inspired
the jury with an innovative app to enhance the user experience for
e-car hire. This was the third Green Tech Jam and was a collaboration
between Graz University of Technology and the Green Tech Cluster.
www.greentechcluster.at/jam2019

Everyone can take steps towards a
more sustainable lifestyle.
12 GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 13
Green
Lifestyle
Things we
can all do
To achieve climate targets by 2050,
every individual will have to play a part.
There is general consensus on this point,
according to a JOANNEUM RESEARCH study.
Recycled bottles for subway tickets
The EU ECHOES project asked 18,000 Europeans
to complete detailed questionnaires
in autumn 2018. “The representative data enabled
us to calculate energy consumption
and greenhouse gas emissions for population
groups with different lifestyles,” summarises
Neil Bird, life cycle analysis expert at
LIFE, the JOANNEUM RESEARCH Centre for
Climate, Energy and Society.
This showed that the decisions we make
about living arrangements and mobility
have a particularly strong impact on our
personal carbon footprint. So the homes of
the most climate‐unfriendly ten percent of
the population emit around four times as
many greenhouse gases as those of the ten
percent with the most climate-friendly lifestyle,
and their transport arrangements give
rise to around eighteen times as many emissions.
But what are the forces that drive how we behave
in relation to the climate? Our daily life
is strongly influenced by routine. To change
this, we need alternatives that are compatible
with our life in general. “The analyses
have revealed that the public awareness of
the problem is high, but many people don’t
have a clear idea of where to start,” explains
Stephan Schwarzinger, LIFE sustainable lifestyle
expert. The JOANNEUM RESEARCH
experts are convinced that an incremental
approach to a more climate‐friendly lifestyle
can work and should be seen as an opportunity.
“It’s less about doing without than with
replacing or improving habits that damage
the climate.” If every individual replaced one
damaging habit with a more sustainable one
each week, climate change targets would be
more within reach. “Everyone can do something!”
runs the sustainable lifestyle experts’
appeal.
The researchers are also optimising their
own lifestyles to make them more climate‐friendly.
LIFE Centre Director and
longstanding vegetarian Franz Prettenthaler
travels by bike or a well‐used hybrid car
depending on what works best, amateur pilot
Stephan Schwarzinger gets around by
bike, more than compensating for his hobby’s
annual emissions, and native Canadian
Neil Bird commutes between Gleisdorf and
Graz by train every day, offsetting his occasional
visits to his homeland.
Find out what each one of us can do to improve
our carbon footprint on this website:
www.lifestylecheck.at
Info
But what do we need to do? Experts explain. JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungs
gesellschaft mbH develops
solutions and technologies for various
sectors of the economy and industry
and conducts cutting-edge
research at an international level.
Focussing on applied research and
technology development the IN-
NOVATION COMPANY maintains a
key role in technology and knowledge
transfer.
LIFE – the Centre for Climate, Energy
and Society – deals with central
issues related to climate change.
LIFE’s clear societal mission includes
strengthening resistance against climate-
and weather-related risks and
a transition to a low-carbon economy
and society by 2050.
www.joanneum.at
Contact
Franz Prettenthaler
Director, LIFE - Centre
for Climate, Energy and
Society at JOANNEUM
RESEARCH
franz.prettenthaler@
joanneum.at
Photo credits: Bernhard Bergmann, JOANNEUM RESEARCH
Photo credits: Fraunhofer IOSB, Nationalpark Gesäuse | Andreas Hollinger, Steiermark Tourismus | ikarus.cc, power@work, haberler.com
Food scanner rescues fruit and vegetables
Approximately 157,000 tonnes of food end up in bins in Austria every year
even though it's still good to eat. A food scanner developed by the German
Fraunhofer Institute might be the solution. The scanner which fits neatly
in a trouser pocket allows retailers and consumers to determine the actual
shelf life of fruit and vegetables. The mobile device uses a near-infrared
(NIR) sensor to scan the food. It determines the ripeness and shelf-life of
the product as well as detecting the ingredients it contains. The results can
then be viewed in an app. Still, shoppers should continue to rely on the most
important food scanner – their eyes and nose. www.iosb.fraunhofer.de
Green does good
Be it roaring mountain streams, lakes as smooth as glass or lush vegetation
after it has rained – nature has a magical allure and a profoundly positive
effect on us humans. According to a large-scale Danish study, children who
grow up surrounded by nature are less likely to develop mental illnesses
later in life. Scientists from
the Aarhus University have
shown that people who
grow up surrounded by
forests, meadows, gardens
or parks are up to 55%
less likely to suffer from a
mental illness compared
to people who don't. As
the Green Heart of Austria,
and with fantastic natural
diversity, Styria can count
itself lucky.
www.steiermark.com/en
In Istanbul, you can now buy a travel ticket with bottles and
cans. The concept is as simple as it is brilliant. Empty plastic
bottles can be fed into the machines in exchange for credit
on your travel card (Istanbulkart). The amount credited depends
on the size of the bottle; cans are worth more than
plastic bottles. This tops up your card balance by between
2 and 9 cents. The project started out with 25 machines at
various subway stations and will be increased gradually to
100. If the test phase proves successful, machines will also
be set up in other places, such as schools and universities.
www.metro.istanbul
Creating green electricity together
Community solar
farms are steadily
growing in popularity.
The ‘power@
work’ initiative led
by JOANNEUM
RESEARCH and
Büro für Erneuerbare
Energie – Leo
Riebenbauer supports the planning and installation of employee-run
photovoltaic facilities. Due to the large amount
of electricity that companies and public institutions use,
they offer the most favourable conditions for this kind of
community facilities. The electricity generated can be used
for electric vehicle charging stations for example, where
the workforce is responsible for organising, financing and
building the entire facility. A bonus for the company and its
employees is that people who take part will at least get the
most out of the sun while at work. The “power@work” staff
help to turn these concepts into reality.
www.power-at-work.at

14 GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 15
Precise agricultural irrigation systems that
conserve water have brought the Bauer Group from
Voitsberg international success.
pro aqua systems use
boron-doped diamond electrodes
to produce clean water.
tion irrigation systems is high, above all in Europe, North
and South America, Australia, New Zealand and China.
Farms make up 90 percent of Bauer’s customers, with ten
percent of the company’s business coming from industry.
ogy is used primarily in the food industry, for instance for
washing and sterilising fruit, vegetables and meat; it’s also
used in swimming pools and drinking water treatment,“
explains pro-aqua CEO Wolfgang Staber.
Innovation bubbles up
Styrian companies businesses have extensive expertise and
provide all kinds of solutions relating to water: resource conservation,
water treatment, irrigation systems for agriculture, hydropower,
Water is a rich source of life. Styria has always had a close
affinity with water technology. And its many small power
plants, storage and other power stations are proof of this.
Styria plays a key global role in green electricity: 20 percent
of the world’s electricity from renewable sources (hydropower,
biomass and solar power plants) is generated by
Styrian technology. This means Styria helps generate 1,200
TWh of electricity in total, a quantity equivalent to the electricity
demand for the whole of India’s 1.3 billion inhabitants.
A key global player in hydropower plant construction is
ANDRITZ AG from Graz. The group supplied the Santo
Antonio hydropower plant in Brazil with 14 powerful 71.6
and cooling systems for public spaces.
MW bulb turbines, each with a diameter of 7.5 metres,
along with generators and switchgear systems.
Water for growth
The availability and efficient use of water is an increasingly
important issue for the water-intensive agriculture sector.
Modern and intelligent irrigation systems enable water to
be distributed to fields with precision. “In the context of
the increasing scarcity of water and during long dry periods,
farmers can use our systems to conserve water as
they irrigate their fields,” explains Andreas Schitter of the
Bauer Group from Voitsberg. Demand for water conserva-
Photo credits: Shutterstock, available
Water protects fruit and vegetables
Water is also of increasing importance for the food preservation
sector. Graz company A. Rauch, which has supplied
air humidifiers and open-air climate control systems
for many years, is successfully using water for cooling fruit
and vegetable racks. “Humidifier cooling is ideal for use in
the food trade – it reduces food and plastic waste by up
to 70 percent. It also preserves the vitamins, and prolongs
the shelf life of loose fresh produce many times over,” says
CEO Andreas Rauch. The prohibition on single‐use plastic
packaging means that this sustainable technology has
taken on a completely new relevance for the food trade.
Water cleaned by diamonds
Access to clean water is becoming more and more important.
Producing clean, germ-free water and processing
waste water in a gentle way is centre stage for pro aqua
in Niklasdorf. The company uses patented technology to
produce boron-doped diamond electrodes. These enable
clean water to be provided for drinking and swimming,
cleaning and disinfecting systems and surfaces, and also
enable waste water to be cleaned without the addition of
chemicals and released into the environment again. The
technology filters out cosmetic particulates, oils, micro-organisms,
pharmaceutical residue and industrial chemicals.
All that remains is very high-quality water. “Our technol-
Resource conservation
Water is the fundamental basis of life for humans. In the
context of industrial development, the construction of infrastructure
and increasing urbanisation, safeguarding this resource
requires a certain level of expertise. Safeguarding the
quantity and quality of the valuable resource that is water is
the business of JR-AquaConSol of Graz. It provides management,
surveying and safeguarding solutions in relation to water
resources. “We investigate the possible impact of infrastructure
initiatives on the water supply for customers such
as ÖBB and ASFINAG. But we are also involved with drinking
water resource analysis and development for water supply
companies. In addition, we record the availability of water,
and its potential uses, in the region,” explains Sebastian Berka
of JR-AquaConSol. They also investigate process water
and industrial water resources for mining and industrial companies.
The company is currently working with a number of
universities internationally to develop numeric models and
analytical methods. They are also collaborating on research
projects, and are part of research networks, in Europe, primarily
in Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia.
In summary: Intelligent technology from Styria is enabling
clean energy to be created from hydropower, careful
water management in agriculture, fruit and vegetables
to be kept fresh and effective water treatment.

16
Did you know?
Solar cycle
The lifetime of the first-generation photovoltaics will end in the near
future. The challenge is recycling the multiple million tonnes of modules.
Until now components were disposed of as electrical scrap or
waste glass. Research into more sustainable methods is at the heart of
a consortium which includes the Styrian company PCCL and the University
of Leoben. For instance, the glass in a module is a high-quality
product which is too valuable to be mixed with glass from bottles
or windows. A separate recycling process will be developed in order
to fully recycle old PV glass. The results of the research also serve to
make future PV modules more sustainable. www.pccl.at/en
The new stone age for energy
The first thermal energy storage plant which stores excess energy in
the form of heat has been completed in Hamburg. The wind power
company, Siemens Gamesa, wants to store this energy for use at times
when there is little or no wind. The plant consists of 1000 tonnes of
natural stone in an extremely well-insulated hall. A giant blow-dryer
powered using excess energy heats up the air to 600°C. Should electricity
be required, the hot stones heat up the air, a heat exchanger
then generates steam that produces electricity through a turbogenerator.
www.siemensgamesa.com
The next ship revolution
Ships are among the largest sources of CO 2
emissions. An international
consortium, which includes the Large Engines Competence
Center (LEC) of TU Graz and GE Jenbacher, aims to radically reduce
CO 2
emissions by 97% and nitrogen monoxide by 80%. A large-scale
demonstration of hydrogen propulsion, as well as a test rig of the
complete ship propulsion system will be set up. The idea is to convert
the regenerated methanol on the ship into hydrogen for propulsion
and to separate the CO 2
from the combustion system and store it in
tanks. www.lec.at
Tokyo's green games
The 2020 Olympics will be held in Japan and will be dedicated to sustainability
and recycling. One particular stand-out is that the medals
for the honoured athletes will be made from recycled electronics, such
as smartphones, thus saving resources. The commitment to being
green is also central to the venues. The Olympic Stadium in Tokyo,
where the opening and closing ceremonies will take place, is CO 2
neutral
and relies exclusively on natural sources of energy, such as solar
and wind energy. Rainwater is collected and used to irrigate sports
facilities and canals. https://tokyo2020.org/en/
Photo credits: asia-chang-32003-unsplash, shutterstock.com, cameron-venti-1126957-unsplash, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy