Model urban district
By Prof. Dr. Diethard Mager, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
One of the largest projects to date affecting the whole of society in Germany, the turnaround in energy policy is a great opportunity for innovation and growth. In addition to converting the nation’s power supply to one based largely on renewable energies, this turnaround in energy policy sees its central fields of activity above all in measures for energy efficiency and the development of new energy technologies.
With its 6th Energy Research Programme, the federal government has created the crucial conditions on the energy sector that science and the economy need to work together on innovations. The most important venues for the turnaround include cities and agglomerations. Here is where building stocks and the energy infrastructure are concentrated. Here is where the Federal Ministry of Economics is launching its funding initiative “Energy Efficient City”, focusing on the energy related transformation of model urban districts.
An important lighthouse project is currently being realised in Berlin Adlershof: “High Tech – Low Ex: Energy Efficiency Berlin Adlershof 2020” will be casting light on many facets of new technologies and concepts for the energy supply of the future. The project’s objective to cut the location’s primary energy needs by 30 percent by 2020 is ambitious. The location’s operator WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH, with support of the Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umweltschutz, the TU Berlin and the local utility BTB have pooled their resources to achieve this. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is funding this exemplary project.
In conjunction with the innovative power and expertise of the local institutes and companies operating on the energy sectors, Adlershof provides the best conditions for demonstrating how an “actual turnaround in energy policy” can be implemented in a complex urban district and how ambitious energy saving targets can be achieved.
With this goal in mind, I wish all involved in this project every success!