Transition towards an energy-efficient scientific Office Setup in Austria’s largest (Plus-)Plus-Energy Office Building – an Analysis

TU Wien, Institute of Material Technology, Building Physics and Building Ecology, Karlsplatz 13/207-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria

^* Corresponding author: alexander.david@tuwien.ac.at

Abstract

Near the center of Vienna one can find the world’s first office tower which was designed to feed more energy into the power grid than is required to operate and use the building. This building is the result of the refurbishment of an over 40 years old high-rise building. The so called “(Plus-)Plus-Energy Office High-Rise Building” offers office space for several institutes of the TU Wien. The building was planned and simulated under the premise that every office occupant uses highly energy-efficient IT-hardware which would result in an average electrical power consumption of approximately 50 Watts per office workplace. Moreover, the cooling system of the building was planned for this case, allowing only for a minimal internal thermal load. To realize the simulation results, conventional office IT-hardware needs to be substituted by energy-efficient one and all intensive computing processes, e.g. simulations, ought to be outsourced into the building’s server room. This research presents the challenges faced during the transition from a conventional scientific office setup to an energy-efficient one. The method which was used to encourage the occupants to participate in this transition process will be discussed and the impact on the building’s energy consumption will be shown.