The Austrian Society for Environment and Technology – Österreichische Gesellschaft für Umwelt und Technik (ÖGUT) is an independent non-profit organisation which has been focusing on sustainability in the economy and society for more than 40 years. As a platform for this development, ÖGUT has brought together more than 100 organisations and institutions from economic backgrounds (organisations in the areas of waste management, finance, energy providers etc., interest groups such as the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO) and Trade Unions), administrative bodies, and environmental groups (the largest environmental NGOs etc.).
ÖGUT serves as a competence centre which offers a broad and diverse range of services. The goal is to develop and implement innovative solutions to current challenges together with its partner-network.
ÖGUT has carried out several studies as well as pilot and demonstration projects to analyse the potential of 5GDHC networks in existing urban areas as well as prepared starting cells for 5GDHC networks in Vienna and Linz.
Within the project ALPHA the focus of ÖGUT´s work is:
- lead Activity 1.3; Study visit to enhance partners’ understanding of technical, infrastructure, administrative, and socioeconomic requirements for planning 5GDHC solutions by presenting best practise examples in planning and operating 5GDHC networks solutions and by organising a study visit for ALPHA partners and summarising lessons learnt from it.
- lead Activity 2.1; elaborating guidelines that will detail the framework and workplan of the pilot action, provide directions for the establishment of LWGs, and specify the components of the H&C profiles.
The focus of the region Vienna for decarbonisation of H&C
The capital city of Vienna, with 2 million inhabitants, is the largest city in Austria and located in the east of the country, where a continental climate prevails. With the Vienna Climate Roadmap 2040, the City of Vienna has defined the strategy for the decarbonisation of the city. The Vienna Heating Plan 2040 specifies which areas will be supplied with district heating (3GDHC) and which areas with 5GDHC networks in the future. By 2040, approximately 25% of households in Vienna are to be heated and cooled by 5GDHC networks. This will trigger investments of approximately €7.5 billion for heat supply and €2.5 billion for centralisation of heating pipe systems in the City of Vienna.