Development of a Plus-Energy District Certification Including a Quick Check for klimaaktiv Certification of Settlements

To meet Austria's climate targets, the building sector must be fully decarbonized by 2040. Districts play a key role in this process, as they integrate buildings, mobility, and decentralized energy use and generation, enabling holistic solutions. The guiding principle is:

"Construct and renovate districts in such a way that, if everyone did the same, the building sector would be sufficiently decarbonized for a climate-neutral Austria by 2040."

While existing standards often focus on individual buildings or approaches with static thresholds, there has so far been a lack of a comprehensive approach that systematically considers the specific potentials and challenges of districts and makes them applicable in practice.

This project develops and implements a quality standard for climate-neutral positive-energy districts that aligns with European goals such as "Positive Energy Districts," national targets for climate neutrality in the building sector by 2040, and international climate goals. It enables the district-specific definition of thresholds for primary energy and greenhouse gas balances, adapted to parameters such as building density, location, mobility concepts, and building age. This ensures fairness through effort-sharing – the requirements for each district are dynamically adjusted to its specific conditions.

A key instrument for implementing the standard is a freely available Excel tool that simplifies the balancing of hourly energy flows and GHG emissions. It allows for quick determination of thresholds, comparison of variants, and supports early-stage planning. Features include:

• primary energy balance and GHG balances for construction, operation and mobility,
• Integration of energy flexibility,
• Assessment of energy demand for motorized individual transport.

To make the positive-energy approach based on the Future District concept ready for practical use targeted process flows, organizational structures and a communication strategy are developed. In close collaboration with the klimaaktiv program, planners, developers, and project managers are supported during the planning and implementation phases.

The project raises the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from 6 to 9 by transferring the "Zukunftsquartier-Ansatz" into practical application. It enables the systematic planning of climate-neutral positive energy districts, promotes market penetration, and ensures that the building sector contributes its share to achieving climate neutrality in Austria by 2040.

Project management

• University of Applied Sciences Technikum Vienna

Project or cooperation partners

• Salzburger Institute for Spatial Planning and Housing SIR

Thomas Zelger
Giefinggasse 6, 1210 Wien
E-Mail: thomas.zelger@technikum-wien.at
www.technikum-wien.at