Ten billion gigawatt hours – that is the amount of energy that
Europe consumes each year. The operation of buildings alone counts
for 44 per cent of this energy consumption.
This fact is the reason behind the drive of the “Centre for
Applied Research at Universities of Applied Sciences – Sustainable
Energy Technology (zafh.net)” to concentrate on in-depth building
energy research as well as on the development of integrated energy
concepts for buildings and regions. Their goal is to find
economical and energy-efficient solutions and to make these
solutions available for use in a way that is practical and
integrative.
Interdisciplinary research and development in this field of
study is the central goal of the Research Centre for Sustainable
Energy Technology at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences
(zafh.net).
zafh.net Stuttgart is responsible for the management of the
zafh.net network.
The zafh.net network is a research network with the goal of
creating a concentration of expertise in the field of building
energy research. It was founded by the Baden-Württembergian
Ministry of Science in 2002 with support from the regional
foundation Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg and is located at the
Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences.
The network’s objective is to use judicious networking to
interconnect the research activities that are being conducted at
the Universities of Applied Sciences in Stuttgart, Biberach,
Offenburg and Konstanz as well as by other partners. This serves to
strengthen Baden-Württemberg’s already excellent energy-efficiency
research field. Energy research at zafh.net Stuttgart has been
greatly improved due to the cooperation within the zafh.net
network.
Currently, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. habil. Ursula
Eicker, approx. 30 staff members from the departments of Physics,
Building Physics, City Planning, Geo-information, Infrastructure
Management, Mechanical- and Supply Engineering, and Architecture
are working on numerous national and international research
projects.
Zafh.net works in interdisciplinary research groups, mostly in cooperation with industry and other research centres, on innovative energy concepts and energy management solutions for buildings and communities as well as on components for solar heating and cooling as well as simulation and management of energy equipment/plants.