Live Lighter
New technologies, digitisation and automation promise innovative solutions and possibilities to drive CO2 reduction and to decouple resource consumption more strongly from economic performance and social prosperity. However, the implementation of research findings also requires social and political acceptance in order to achieve a balanced lifestyle in the sense of sufficiency. Energy and climate goals can only be achieved in the long term if technology and people interact. Reliable data bases are an important component in planning and implementing effective sustainability efforts and in verifying their success.
Buildings and Sustainability
The building park, which accounts for around half of the final energy consumption and CO2 emissions in Switzerland, has great reduction potential. But where is the key to more energy-efficient buildings? In replacements of buildings, energy-efficient refurbishment, urbanisation and compression? Or building standards and labels? Are investors primarily in the spotlight? Or rather the architecture and planning experts? Do we need more legal requirements? Or rather less? And how can new technologies and digital concepts help to reduce energy consumption?
The novatlantis Community Energy Cards serve municipalities, energy service companies and energy consultants as a basis for discussion and planning in order to achieve energy targets for the (residential) building park. They support decision-makers in setting priorities and identifying potential efficiently and at low cost. Various novatlantis projects deal with sustainable buildings: e.g. from the perspective of energy accounting or with the building as an energy interface to mobility.
Cities and Municipalities
How can a municipality or a city become more sustainable and at the same time maintain or improve the quality of life and attractiveness of its location? When is a city or an area ‘smart’? How much potential is there in Smart Cities and communities? And how much information and communication technology (ICT) do they really need? Do we have to anticipate rebound effects? And how do we deal with public data and its security?
novatlantis works on topics related to smart and sustainable cities and communities. The novatlantis Community Energy Cards strengthen the quality assurance of community data and make it possible to make energy advice more targeted.
Resources and Mobility
How does a sustainable future Switzerland look like? How can resource consumption be reduced? And what does this mean for the economic development? How can we exploit the opportunities offered by the global market for environmental and energy technology and resource efficiency for the Swiss economy? How can we make the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable mobility? Do we need new mobility models? Or new drive systems? And what role do our own mobility behaviour and social norms play? And what does sufficiency mean for our lifestyle?
novatlantis is involved in various committees, e.g. in the working group “Knowledge and Technology Transfer in Major Energy Research Programmes” and engages within its own network to make the Swiss economy more sustainable. The proximity to research in the ETH Domain, especially PSI, allows us to gain deep insights into applied research and leads to projects in which representatives from administration, industry and research work hand in hand to implement innovative, sustainable solutions.