Green Tech Magazine May 2018 en

GREEN TECH
MAGAZINE
May 2018
Cover photo: Shutterstock, iStock, Mathias Kniepeiss, Wolfgang Seidler, KWB and Energie Steiermark
Action!
Technology from Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s native region
are leading in climate protection
Waste management counts on
digital innovation
Blockchain technology applications
in the energy industry

2 EDITORIAL
Action for
climate protection
“Austrian oak” Arnold Schwarzenegger and leading green tech companies
from his native region join forces in the context of the R20 climate protection
initiative. The technological heart of green power, green heat and green
mobility lies in this Green Tech Valley.
DEAR
READERS!
Arnold Schwarzenegger and his native
province of Styria – Austria’s innovation
hotspot – reunite for climate
protection: Every 5th Kilowatt hour of
green electricity is generated in this
Green Tech Valley by means of hydropower,
biomass or solar power. In the
field of digital waste management,
Styrian companies showcase many
world premiers at the IFAT in Munich.
You can furthermore look forward
to blockchain applications in energy
technology and the new Green Tech
Hub.
We hope you will be able to draw
much inspiration from our articles
TOGETHER WITH GOVERNOR HERMANN SCHÜTZENHÖFER AND PUPILS OF VS THAL 20 leading
environmental technology companies planted 20 oaks standing for global strength in climate protection.
Bernhard Puttinger
and the Green Tech Cluster
Styria Team
Partners: FSC and PEFC
Legal notice: Media owner and publisher: Green Tech
Cluster Styria GmbH, Waagner-Biro-Straße 100, 8020 Graz,
Austria, Tel.: 031640/77 44-0, welcome@greentech.at, www.
greentech.at. Content and project management: Andreas
Pompenig, Bernhard Puttinger. Production: Die Steirerin
Verlags GmbH & Co KG, Schubertstraße 29/1, 8010 Graz,
Tel.: 0316/84 12 12-0, www.diesteirerin.at | Printing:
Offsetdruck Bernd DORRONG e.U., www.dorrong.at
Pioneers united
Arnold Schwarzenegger is known around
the world as the “Austrian oak” due to his
strength – a strength he now primarily
uses for climate protection. In 2010, he
founded the non-profit organisation R20
Regions of Climate Action in cooperation
with the United Nations. The initiative
aims at supporting climate protection projects
and best practice examples implemented
by regions, nations or companies
and thus promoting the green economy.
Schwarzenegger’s international network
is thereby reinforced from his native country:
Styria – with its technology leaders
– is another climate protection pioneer
and actively weighs in. To celebrate the
partnership’s start, 20 oaks were planted
in cooperation with the innovative companies
at Thalersee lake close to Graz.
The trees symbolise Styria’s contribution
in the form of various renewable energy
sources.
Small region, big effects
Even though this Green Tech Valley with
Graz at its centre is only home to 1.2 million
people, the technologies invented there
have big effects on a global scale: Styrian
solutions allowed 550 million tons of CO 2
to be saved around the world in 2017. That
is 40 times more than the region emits and
equals the amount of emissions Canada
produces annually.
Photo credits: steiermark.at/Streibl, Shutterstock, provided

GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 3
Global climate protection
Made in the Green Tech Valley
550 t
550 million tons of CO 2
were saved around the world using
Styrian green technology in 2017. That's 40 times more
than the region emits and equals the emissions of Canada.
#1
IN GREEN
ENERGY
20%
of global green power are generated with Styrian technology
at the heart, above all by means of hydropower, biomass and
solar power systems. The 1,220 TWh thus generated would
cover the entire power demand of the nation of India with its
1.2 billion people.
Styria (A)
population: 1.2 million
100 TWh
100 TWh of green heat and
cold are generated using
Styrian solar power systems.
This equals the entire
district heating demand
of Germany.
4%
of electric and hybrid cars
across the globe are driven
by 116,000 battery packs
made in Styria.
Above all, 20 % of global green power are
generated with Styrian technology at the
heart: Hydropower, biomass and solar power
systems from the Green Tech Valley. The
1,220 TWh thus generated are enough to
meet the annual power demand of the entire
nation of India with its 1.2 billion people.
In 2017, biomass and solar power systems
from this technology hotspot have generated
100 TWh of green power and cold. This
equals the entire district heating demand
of Germany. In the field of mobility, some
960 million litres of bio fuel were produced
in Styrian facilities in 2017 which is enough to
travel from the earth to the sun 107 times. On
top of that, 116,000 battery packs from Styria
power 4 % of all electric and hybrid cars currently
on the road. Recycling also contributes
to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, for
instance in the glass industry: 26 million tons
of glass are recycled internationally with the
use of Styrian sorting systems which is double
the amount collected in the EU.
A summit of action heroes
At the R20 Austrian World Summit on 15 May
at Vienna’s Hofburg Palace, the former Californian
Governor, the heads of state of many
countries and these companies will strive to
set good practice examples and create positive
momentum for the COP 24 in Poland in
December of this year. And for joint projects
full of action, as well.
“Do it. Do it now!“
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
R20 Climate Protection Initiative

4
No material flow
without data flow
The heterogeneity of waste drives the development of digital technologies
– from machine learning to highly developed sensor technology. Styrian
companies already take advantage of data glasses and chemical imaging.
Digitisation is progressing dynamically and
is also a driving force for innovation in waste
management. Companies in German-speaking
countries are taking note of the opportunities
that new technologies offer, as confirmed
by a current study carried out by the
University of Leoben in cooperation with
HTL Leoben. However, digital readiness in
waste management companies is only at
30%. Only a few companies currently use
digital technologies, though some have already
set the course.
The “ReWaste 4.0" competence centre at
the University of Leoben is researching the
subject of future waste treatment. "We deal
closely with digitally transformed recycling
and recovery processes," says Renato Sarc,
technical project manager of the Chair of
Waste Processing Technology and Waste
Management.
Developments are increasingly moving towards
multivariate statistical model equations
and machine learning based on big
data and deep learning. Digital technologies
such as the "real-time route optimisation"
of collection vehicles are already being
used in collection and logistics. The automatic
level monitoring of waste containers
and the underground disposal of waste by
autonomous robots are technically possible,
but still too expensive. In machines and
plants, digitised waste treatment plants are
dynamically controlled via highly developed
sensors. New sensors will make it possible
to sort materials that are difficult to detect,
such as black plastics. Advanced gas detectors
will detect smouldering fires early on
and thus make plants safer.
All in real-time
EVK has set a clear focus on data tools. The
great challenge lies in the complex composition
of the most diverse materials in
waste. Sufficient resources are required
to make treatment processes as efficient
as possible. "We have been using EVKs
Chemical Imaging in industrial processes

GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 5
Data for
market
analysis
Digital
after sales
service
Customer experience improve
product as a service
Dynamic routing
Clarification of warranty claims
On-time
quality assurance
Quality
assurance
MARKETING SALES DISPOSAL-SERVICES LOGISTICS PRODUCTION
MATERIAL FLOW-
MANAGEMENT
Communication (e.g. apps)
Autonomous vehicles
Robotics
Data analysis
Calculation models
Predictive maintenance
Digitisation along the value chain with example applications
Photo credits: istock.com, Montage: hope-design.at
for several years," says Alexander Fetz of
EVK, which specialises in sensor-based total
solutions. One field of application is the
often inhomogeneous material flow in cement
production, in which substitute fuels
are relevant. It requires continuous monitoring.
Hyperspectral imaging offers a solution
to analyse the qualities and to determine
essential parameters such as calorific
value. The hyperspectral camera makes invisible
chemical properties visible and enables
continuous digital process monitoring.
This real-time measurement is clearly superior
to samples that do not contain spatially
or time-triggered data. “We are taking the
lab to the conveyor belt," says Fetz. The intelligent
analysis and sorting system is also
used in other types of waste. This is of great
importance due to current developments,
since China has imposed import bans for
many types of waste.
Machine-waste communication
Industry 4.0 is also penetrating the shredder
industry. "The industry is traditionally positioned
with longer product life cycles – people
rely on proven and reliable products,"
says Stefan Scheiflinger-Ehrenwerth, Product
Manager at Lindner-Recyclingtech. The
digitisation on the customer side is being
enhanced, a number of smart software tools
are being used in waste management to optimise
routes. This opens up a starting point
in the company for mechanical and plant
engineering: "If it is known in advance which
waste is to be delivered for processing, the
shredder can be adjusted optimally and tai-
lor-made," says Scheiflinger-Ehrenwerth.
The Vision 4.0 ideal is that "intelligent garbage"
such as smartphones etc will, in future,
communicate with the shredder itself.
In the case of highly explosive new waste
components such as lithium-ion batteries,
developments with regard to safety aspects
are particularly relevant. These batteries are
highly flammable if they break.
More drive for efficiency
Recycling processes can be optimised in
many areas though digitisation. ATM Recyclingsystems,
the plant and processing
technology specialist, is currently pushing
ahead with the automation of ordering processes
for plant components via a support
platform in addition to process data acquisition
and predictive maintenance. In the future,
the component itself will have to communicate
that it is approaching its performance
limits and measures must be taken
to guarantee the long-term availability of
the system, "this is a vision for the future
that we are working on," says Technical Director
Andreas Anbauer. Virtual aids such
as data glasses are already used as standard
in work processes. They are used within
the company to give employees support directly
at a plant. "Through the camera in my
glasses I can see what the mechanic is doing
and give him instructions through headphones."
In future, the technology is also to
be made available to customers via secure
data lines. The focus is increasingly on energy
efficiency, which has a delayed effect
in the industry.
Leading the pack in recycling
An essential goal in the recycling process
throughout Styria has already been
achieved. The recycling rate for municipal
waste was already 61% in 2016, according
to Land Steiermark. The European Commission's
Circular Economy Package does not
plan to impose a binding target of 60% for
municipal waste until 2030.
Info
Everything from
a single source:
Don’t waste // Invest
In waste management, a consortium of
experts from industry, research and the
public sector now offers tailor-made
one-stop-shop recycling solutions. The
Green Tech Cluster acts as the first point
of contact. The consortium includes: Andritz,
ATM Recyclingsystems, BDI Bio-
Energy International, Binder+Co, EVK DI
Kerschhaggl, IUT, Redwave, Komptech,
Lindner Recyclingtech, M-U-T and Saubermacher.
Other partners include: Internationalisierungscenter
Steiermark,
Federal Ministry of Sustainability and
Tourism, Abteilung 14 Wasserwirtschaft,
Ressourcen und Nachhaltigkeit and
Montanuniversität Leoben.
www.dontwasteinvest.com

6
One step
ahead
Innovations from Styrian companies
at IFAT, the world's leading trade fair
for water, sewage, waste and raw
materials management in Munich.
Interactive intelligence
Communication between
man, machine and computer
reaches the next dimension at
REDWAVE: The sensor-based
REDWAVE 2i sorting machine
has been equipped with an
interactive "intelligence" that
can be used in real time anytime
and anywhere. Access to
real-time analyses and statistics
enables sorting processes
to be monitored, controlled
and optimised at any time.
www.redwave.com
Six in one sweep
Binder+Co presents a unique
sorting concept for light
packaging waste such as
PET, HDPE, PP, beverage cartons,
paper and cardboard:
Clarity multiway. The patented,
resource-saving and
sensor-supported multi-way
sorting system for the treatment
of household and municipal
waste can sort up to
six product fractions fully automatically.
www.binder-co.at
Continuous
monitoring
Komptech is making a name
for itself with the monitoring
and communication i technology
"Connect!” By continuously
monitoring the Komptech
machines a condition-based
maintenance can be ensured at
all times, and the sensor data,
some of which is analysed in
real time, provides a comprehensive
information system. In
addition, Komptech presents a
new generation of innovative
equipment from the universal
wood chipper Axtor 4510 to
the non-ferrous metal separator
"Metalfex".
www.komptech.com
Economical separator
FAN Separator, a subsidiary
of the Bauer Group, presents
an economical solution
for waste water treatment
in small businesses: The PSS
1.1-300 screw press separator
was developed for use on
farms and in the biogas sector.
The machine separates
commercial waste with a dry
matter content of up to 12%
into a liquid and solid substance
and thus becomes a
substitute for the slurry pit.
www.bauer-at.com
Styria Climate Balance Tool 2.0
Version 2.0 of the Styrian Climate Balance Tool analyses which greenhouse gas emissions are caused by waste management activities.
The tool can be used to calculate and display greenhouse gas emissions from waste processing for households and businesses.
The aim is to comparatively present the expenditure for the production of primary raw materials in order to quantify the ecological
benefits of separate collection. The new tool will be online from the start of June. Information at www.abfallwirtschaft.steiermark.at
Photo credits: REDWAVE, Komptech, Bauer, Binder+Co

7
Immersion as
basis for learning
Forbes lists her among the most interesting minds in Europe under 30:
Computer scientist Johanna Pirker explores virtual worlds.
The tools are also successfully used in environmental technology.
Forbes magazine included Johanna Pirker
in the "30 under 30” list, which features Europe's
most interesting young personalities,
for her idea of an interactive, digital physics
lab "Maroon" which turns experiments and
simulations into virtual reality experiences.
The researcher at Graz University of Technology,
who recently completed her doctorate,
delved into virtual realities during her time
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT).
It all started with Pirkers' passion for game
development, which has since grown into an
area of specialisation. "I see huge potential
for learning and training applications in the
designs and techniques used in game development.”
According to Pirker, 29, virtual
reality opens up a wide range of possibilities.
"I think this technology will prevail because
everything feels so real. A strong feeling, such
as immersion in the virtual world in particular,
promotes learning processes in every respect:
in the school environment, in entertainment,
in industry".
Game development brings together many
specialist areas around one table and, with
innovative event formats such as "Game
GREEN TALENTS –
Introducing young researchers
Johanna Pirker is assistant
at the Institute of Interactive
Systems and Data Science at
TU Graz.
She is the author of around 50
scientific publications, president
of the "Game Development
Graz" association and has won
16 scholarships and awards to
date. Areas of specialisation:
virtual realities, game research,
human-computer interaction,
eLearning and data analysis.
Jams”, injects dynamism to the action – within
a short period of time, a prototype is developed
through interdisciplinary cooperation.
Green Tech Jam
This method also works in the field of green
tech. Through the cooperation between Graz
University of Technology and the Green Tech
Cluster, the computer scientist led the second
"Green Tech Jam", bringing students and entrepreneurs
together to find innovations and
solutions to real problems.
She contributed technologies and tools including
virtual reality, augmented reality
and input devices such as voice recognition.
"A computer scientist alone cannot solve
a waste management problem, but collaborations
with people from specialist areas
ranging from mechanical engineering to environmental
science, new ways are created.”
Output of the Hackathon 2018: The use of
Amazon's "Alexa" for easier waste separation,
a solution for identifying machines using a
smartphone app and the use of augmented
reality glasses, and an e-charging app for
electric vehicles.
www.jpirker.com
Photo credits: Matthias Rauch, Shutterstock

8
Fresh
Sunny outlooks
Inspired by 35% annual market growth in Europe, 350 industry experts
from 33 countries attended the 5th international conference for solar
district heating in Graz from 11 to 12 April. Solar thermal energy is expected
to contribute more than one terawatt hour (1 billion kilowatt
hours) to the district heating supply for the first time in 2018. By 2050,
this figure is expected to increase to 240 TWh, or 15% of Europe's district
heating requirements. With its plan to completely decarbonise the
district heating network, Graz was the ideal host of the conference. Up
to 450,000 m 2 of solar thermal collectors are to contribute to CO 2
-neutral
supply in the upcoming years. www.solar-district-heating.eu
Sewage systems: Sustainable remediation
An interdisciplinary research group of Graz University of Technology and
the University of Graz developed a new material for the reduction of biogenic
sulphuric acid corrosion (BOD) in wastewater systems. The corrosion
is caused by microbiological processes and produces a strong-smelling,
highly toxic sulphuric acid, which damages concrete in sewers and
destroys it within a few years. Research into the process has led to the
development of new acid-resistant materials with an antibacterial surface.
This innovative material enables the sustainable rehabilitation of
damaged wastewater systems and significantly extends their service life.
www.tugraz.at
Solar tiles
“made in Styria”
Tesla announced it, the Styrian company PVP produces and installs it
on a large scale – photovoltaic roof tiles. Nine solar cells are installed
in an in-roof module. These look barely any different from dark roof
tiles, but continuously generate energy. The first project with Styrian
energy bricks has now been implemented in Denmark. A hotel
was equipped with 5,000 modules, which deliver a total output of
180 kWp. www.pvp.co.at
Styrian cooling
for furniture giants
The IKEA workforce at the tropical location of Singapore enjoy approx
1.6 MWh of environmentally friendly solar heat per year. The energy
generated by the 2,472 m2 S.O.L.I.D. plant is used as operating power
for an absorption refrigeration machine that is used to air-condition
the department store. This not only significantly reduces electricity
consumption, but also saves 428 tonnes of CO 2
per year. The technical
and economic potential of the technology makes the system a showcase
project for the industry and is already S.O.L.I.D.'s second solar
cooling system in Southeast Asia. www.solid.at
Photo credits: Supplied by tuachanwatthana, PVP, Picfly.at Thomas Eberhard, IKEA Singapore

GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 9
Green Tech
Recycling phosphorous
The Styrian plant engineering company BDI has been awarded the
contract to design a special plant to recover phosphorus in Germany.
BDI's range of services includes upscaling, preparation of official engineering
documents and detail engineering. The plant is scheduled
to go into operation in 2020 and recycle 6,500 tonnes of high-purity
phosphoric acid from around 20,000 tonnes of sewage sludge
ash. In Germany, the now scarce raw material phosphorus has to be
imported. With the recycling plant, the project provides significant
political support for recycling the raw material from wastewater by
2029 at the latest. www.bdi-bioenergy.com
New look:
Fresh fruits & young vegetables
The VPZ Packaging Center has developed a new cellulose packaging
for fruits and vegetables made of FSC-certified beech wood. The bag
is made of 100% wood and due to its breathable and moisture-regulating
properties, food stays fresh for up to two to three days longer.
The bag is made of wood from certified local beech forests which
have been thinned. Lenzing AG, which produces the fibres used in a
CO 2
-neutral process in Austria, was brought on-board for production.
The Packnatur® cellulose bag can already be found on the shelves of
the Swiss supermarket chain Coop. www.vpz.at
Photo credits: supplied by Marija Kanizaj, Saubermacher, TU Graz, iStock
Innovative ideas
for energy systems
The International Conference on Sustainable Energy – ISEC 2018
promotes innovative ideas in the fields of renewable energy systems
and resource efficiency and is a forum for research, industry and
energy policy. The conference focuses on renewable heating and
cooling in integrated urban and industrial energy systems and will
be held for the first time in Graz from 3 to 5 October 2018.
www.aee-intec-events.org
The world's most modern refrigerator
processing plant
Rumpold Tschechien, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saubermacher, has
been awarded the contract for the disposal and processing of around
160,000 refrigeration appliances. This corresponds to around 50% of
all refrigerators in the Czech Republic. For this contract, a new plant
will be built near Prague, which with a recycling rate of 96%, will be one
of the most effective in the world. The EU directive only requires 85%.
The secondary raw materials recovered such as plastic, iron, aluminium
and copper are reused in various industrial production processes.
www.saubermacher.at

10
No. 1
Hotspot
for green
start-ups
THE NEW GREEN TECH HUB is
supported by Bernhard Puttinger
and Barbara Geineder (Green Tech
Cluster), mayor Siegfried Nagl and
Andrea Keiml (Stadt Graz) .
The newly created Green Tech Hub unites green
tech leaders in joint projects with green start-ups
and offers a common playground in Graz.
Something which can often be heard
among the management of medium-sized
companies is: “Let's do something with
start-ups!” They are seen as innovative,
flexible and fast; many companies now rely
on them as boosters for new business ideas.
Though the question remains: how can
people collaborate successfully in this context?
Often it is not about venture capital,
but first of all about contacts and cooperating.
The City of Graz and the Green Tech
Cluster have created this platform with the
Green Tech Hub to develop new ideas, projects
or technologies and to grow together.
"We bring together the established green
tech companies and the 'young, wild startups'.
Our goal here is joint innovation success
in a functioning and sustainable cooperation,"
says Tobias Schwab from the
Green Tech Hub.
The right growth partner from the pool of
environmental technology leaders involved
in the Green Tech Hub is sought for each
new company. ANDRITZ AG, Binder+Co,
Frigopol, Komptech, KWB, Saubermacher
and Siemens for example are all on-board.
They are involved as mentors or clients.
And together with Pioneers Discover, exciting
global start-ups for these leading companies
are scouted in their search fields.
"This enables innovative ideas to mature
more quickly into marketable products or
services," emphasises Schwab.
Schwab sees great potential for cooperation,
particularly for medium-sized companies.
While many companies
naturally cooperate
with start-ups or even
operate their own incubators,
for medium-sized
companies
the time and money
needed to nurture a
successful cooperative
relationship is
usually lacking. For
the start-ups based
in the Science Tower
from August onwards,
the Green Tech
Hub means interacting
with technology
leaders, bringing in
their own brainpower
and integrating them
into this hotspot of
green innovations. The
City of Graz is providing
support in the form
of rent subsidies. The
Green Tech Cluster also
offers the 'young savages' access to 13 global
locations of the Green Tech community.
THE NEW PLAYGROUND
in the Science Tower Graz.
Photo credits: Penta Media, Joel Kernasenko

Cluster News
GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 11
Third Gold for the Green Tech Cluster
Achieving the highest mark of 100 points, the Green Tech Cluster won
the gold medal for "Excellent Cluster Management" awarded by the VDI/
VDE Berlin for the third time, after previously winning in 2010 and 2012.
As a result, the Styrian environmental technology cluster leads the
worldwide list of 1,000 audited clusters from four continents. ts.
"In Styria, we began looking to clusters and focusing on increased
cooperation between companies, science and industry 20 years
ago. The Green Tech Cluster is a successful model that is already
leading three international rankings as the best environmental
technology cluster in the world," said a delighted Barbara
Eibinger-Miedl, State Economic Minister of Styria (in the photo
with GTC Managing Director Bernhard Puttinger).
Among others, the many industrial innovation projects for an
environment worth living in, of which 35 alone were initiated itiated
recently, were honoured. www.greentech.at
Austria’s largest green
innovative project
Austria's largest approved innovation project for
research, development and demonstration of green
energy technologies to date, the "Green Energy Lab",
combines 30 strategically networked subprojects
that form a large-scale test region for new innovative
system solutions. The aim is to integrate fluctuating
renewable energies such as solar, wind, hydropower
and biomass into the energy system in order to
achieve a five-times increase in days with a 100%
supply from renewable energy sources from 25 to 125.
www.greenenergylab.at
Photo credits: Supplied by Fotostudio Helmut Jokesch, Picfly.at Thomas Eberhard
Green-Big-Data-University course
Big Data offers environmental technology companies enormous
growth opportunities. This is why 30 people from the green tech
sector are being trained as big data experts at FH JOANNEUM
and Graz University of Technology in the new "Green Big Data"
innovation course. The theoretical knowledge is imparted in the
same way as typical business fields and areas of application. A
dozen companies will implement transfer projects in energy and
waste management as well as new products and services by
2021. The course, jointly initiated by the Green Tech Cluster and
FH JOANNEUM, is funded by the BMWFW Research Expertise
for Business (Forschungskompetenzen f. die Wirtschaft) and
started in January 2018. After the pilot phase with pre-defined
participants, the course is to be switched to regular operation
with ECTS credits. www.fh-joanneum.at

A new lab
for urban
living
JOANNEUM RESEARCH expanded its expertise at the beginning of 2018 with
the new research group "Urban Living Lab". Research topics include spatial
design issues as well as the traffic and spatial behaviour of the city's inhabitants.
Francesco Ciari
Head of the research group
“Urban Living Lab”
francesco.ciari@joanneum.at
Urban spaces undergo a continuous process
of concentration. Energy optimisation,
reduction of emissions, adaptation to climate
change and the restructuring of the
economy and society – caused by changes
in lifestyle and values – are among the current
challenges for a "smart city".
Suburban and rural areas are undergoing
transformation processes that call their
function and structure into question and
require new solutions. This raises increasingly
complex questions of traffic planning
and spatial design.
At the same time, trends such as digitisation
and big data, the availability of innovative
traffic technologies – self-driving vehicles
and growing computing power – offer
new solutions that were unthinkable just a
few years ago.
Heaven or hell
Topics like these are on the radar in the
"Urban Living Lab". The research unit
complements the three existing research
groups with around 30 experts in the Science
Tower in Graz. Francesco Ciari from
Italy, who previously worked at ETH Zurich,
has been recruited to lead the group.
"An obvious question in this respect is how
the introduction of autonomous vehicles
will influence mobility behaviour and spatial
organisation in and outside our cities.
People often talk about 'heaven or hell'
scenarios because the introduction of autonomous
vehicles has such revolutionary
potential that everything can change.
Careful planning is needed to achieve the
best results and avoid mistakes. This is
what the experts in the Urban Living Lab
group focus on," emphasises Francesco
Ciari.
High potential for change
Ciari has transdisciplinary know-how and
many years of experience in national and
international projects on sustainable transport
systems. "In the field of mobility, we
are in a phase that promises major changes.
To help shape the future, I dedicate my
many years of experience in research to innovative
transport concepts. In Graz I currently
see good ideas as well as not so good
habits. Which is precisely why I see great
potential for change."
Information
The "Urban Living Lab" which is part of
the LIFE Centre for Climate, Energy and
Society at JOANNEUM RESEARCH offers
methodological expertise in modelling
transport and on questions of urban
space design. New methods are used to
measure and evaluate spatial behaviour,
in particular traffic behaviour.
www.joanneum.at
Photo credits: JOANNEUM RESEARCH, cybrain

GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 13
Green
Lifestyle
Floating solar systems
Tourism is booming in the Maldives. Most of the numerous hotels
there are powered by diesel generators, which are harmful to the
environment. There is mostly no space for solar systems, too little
wind for wind systems and too few waves for generating energy
using water. The Austrian company Swimsol now has a solution
to these problems in the form of floating solar systems. Since
water reflects the sun, one big advantage of putting solar systems
on water is that they produce 5 to 10% more energy than panels
installed on rooftops. www.swimsol.com
Plogging – the trendy new sport
Doing something good
for the environment while
out on your daily jog has
become a trend new sport
– plogging. This idea from
Sweden – the term is a
combination of the Swedish
words for "jogging" and
"picking up” – allows
runners to combine their
jogging routine and picking
up litter. But being outdoors
and picking up litter at the
same time is not a new
idea. 1 in 20 Styrians are
participating in the annual
Spring Clean, which aims to
clear up litter lying around
in Styria.
www.abfallwirtschaft.steiermark.at
Round and round
Everyone's home has them lying around: hard cardboard rolls
which are inside toilet paper and kitchen roll. The start-up,
rund:Stil, sees these tubes as much more than just a useless waste
product. The company has been producing furniture from 100%
recycled cardboard since 2017. In addition to a table, a columnshaped
shelving unit, a revolving, round cupboard, the "Is mir
Regal" and a children's stool are now available. The start-up
also does its bit for society though workshops for people with
disabilities. www.rundstil.de
Photo credits: Swimsol GmbH, www.rundstil.de, Shutterstock
Green air freshener
Due to pollutants, the air quality in closed rooms is often two to
five times worse than outdoors. This can even have consequences
on health. One affordable and effective method to improve air
quality – which has already been used in space by NASA – is to
have plants indoors. Plants from tropical and subtropical rainforest
zones in particular are known for their air cleaning properties.
Depending on the location and basic composition of the soil, different
rotting gases are produced which the plants have adapted
to. This allows them to absorb carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide
from the air, reduce dust pollution and produce new oxygen.
www.epa.gov

14
Blockchain for energy
It's a topic on everyone's lips but only a few know what it's really about:
blockchain. Already in use in the financial industry, the technology could
also take the energy sector to a new level.
THE BLOCKCHAIN
is also a driver of
innovation for
Green Tech.
The new technology, which became more
widely known through the cryptocurrency
Bitcoin, simply documents what belongs
to whom. For instance, as the land register
regulates property, so can property be
moved in the blockchain. The special thing
about public blockchain systems, such as
Bitcoin or Ethereum, is that everyone can
interact with them without registration. The
associated software protocol of such systems
ensures that thousands of computers
agree on which data should now be written.
In this way, the players which are necessary
today can be replaced – this would
be the notary, the broker or the bank using
the land register transaction example;
this ultimately brings with it potential for
cost savings. In addition, the entire identity
management and data storage can be
placed in the hands of the citizens and thus
gain full control over access to the data.
Thomas Zeinzinger from lab10 collective
explains: "Anyone can interact
with the system." Data
coming from outside must be
secured there, because: "The
blockchain cannot know if the
external data is correct. Only
what is generated in the blockchain
system itself is absolutely trustworthy,"
explains Zeinzinger. The downside:
blockchains require a high amount of
energy.
Potential for new services
According to Zeinzinger, blockchain technology
will change all areas of life, some
now and others a little later. Experts compare
the status quo with that of the Internet
in the 1990s, when the spectrum of the
then new technology was seen as being
able to send text messages from A
to B. Zeinzinger sees blockchain
systems in the energy industry
as an effective means of offering
more customer-friendly
services with less effort
and lower costs. An example:
Private electricity
producers could
0.025%
of GDP
by 2016
offer their electricity with relatively little
effort via blockchain systems via their e-filling
stations – if legally permitted, which is
not yet the case in Austria. In conjunction
with a stable cryptocurrency, this could
also be combined with payment transactions.
"Blockchain systems will certainly
mean that more and more can be made significantly
cheaper and simpler," emphasises
Zeinzinger. Blockchain is currently used
primarily in the financial sector, in the energy
industry there are individual projects,
for example in New York, where residents
of a row of houses can buy photovoltaic
electricity from a row of houses via blockchain.
According to Zeinzinger, the technology
would also be able to put the sometimes
questionable certificate trading on a
new and more efficient basis through clear
traceability.
~$18 bn
via blockchain
in 2016
THE SHARE of blockchain
technology in global GDP
could reach 10% by 2025.
10%
of GDP
by 2025
Source: World Economic Forum und Deloitte

GREEN TECH MAGAZINE 15
P2P TRADING:
Blockchain
technology turns
customers into
prosumers who
can trade their
generated energy
with each other.
Photo credits: Shutterstock, Wolfgang Jilek
Secure and transparent
Erwin Smole of Gridsingularity sees blockchain
as a secure and transparent technology
that hackers have failed to crack so
far. Gridsingularity is currently developing
a high-performance blockchain with partners
with around one million transactions
per second, for comparison: Bitcoin can do
two per second. Blockchain is an exciting
topic for Smole, especially in connection
with the energy industry. Blockchain could
also provide good services for the energy
transition and offer new business models in
which private individuals are also involved.
“It has never been cheaper for a household
to produce its own electricity than now,"
emphasises Smole. Across the globe 51 energy
suppliers have joined forces, within
two years to create a separate blockchain
named Tobalaba (www.energyweb.org),
which will go online next year and can already
be tested. Start-ups are usually the
main drivers, explains Smole. Large institutions,
such as energy suppliers, are often
not flexible enough to react to the rapid
developments in this technology. "The dynamics
behind it are probably up to three
times as dynamic as the Internet."
Energie Steiermark is already working hard
on the new system. It is important for Energie
Steiermark that the system should never
be regarded as a further component of
the Internet in isolation. Blockchain is currently
being tested at the Styrian energy
service provider in various departments for
its future usability.
"With blockchain, for example, decentralised
autonomous cells in certain network
sections could be well controlled via microgrids.
Energy microtrading at local level
or measures to balance production and
consumption would also be possible," explains
CEO Christian Purrer. The system
can also be helpful in optimising the added
value logic. Finally, it will also be examined
to what extent new business models
can be initiated via blockchain. Christian
Purrer: "We plan to get on board at the
right time." He sees the risk of dealing with
Wolfgang Jileks Cartoon
the topic too late as dangerous. It cannot
be ruled out that this technology will trigger
a major change, particularly in the energy
sector. It is actually more than likely.
Innovation lab tests Blockchain
The Green Energy Lab also deals with the
question of the benefits, opportunities and
possible applications of blockchain in the
real environment. Behind this are Energie
Burgenland, Energie Steiermark, EVN and
Wien Energie, whose goal is to work together
on the energy future. The project
is supported by the Green Tech Cluster,
among others. www.greenenergylab.at
AUSTRIAN BIO-BLOCKCHAIN

16
Did you know?
Solar glass
Researchers at Michigan State University are taking a step closer to
their goal of a fossil-free future by developing transparent photovoltaic
cells. Generating energy using transparent solar panels offers a
lot of potential: there are an estimated 5 to 7 billion square meters of
glass surfaces in the USA alone. If used extensively, these panels could
generate up to 40 percent of the energy requirements of the USA.
Current challenges, however, are the tricky issue of storing the energy
which is generated and the low efficiency. www.msu.edu
World's largest air filter
Smog and particulate matter are a daily problem in many Chinese
cities. Stricter laws and the closing of factories, blast furnaces and
coal-fired power plants throughout the country have not significantly
improved the situation. For this reason, engineers from the Environmental
Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences put the world's
largest air filter – a 100-metre tower with an underground pump
system and green greenhouse filter – into trial operation in Shaanxi
Province. Initial results show that the air quality for the residents has
improved measurably and noticeably within a radius of ten kilometres.
english.cas.cn
Electricity from rain
A known disadvantage of solar cells is their dependence on
weather. This could be remedied by a novel hybrid technology.
In this technology, a layer of so-called triboelectric nanogenerators
(TENG) is used to convert raindrops which fall onto and flow
down on panels into energy. This could make the use of solar cells
in less sunny areas more profitable. Furthermore, using TENG
technology for energy-autonomous sensors or LEDs appears more
conceivable. www.futurezone.at
Lego made of sugar cane
The Danish toy company LEGO has set itself the goal of drastically
reducing the company’s ecological footprint by 2030. To this end,
$165 million has already been invested in sustainable materials research.
The first sugar-cane based plastics will be on the market
in 2018 as a direct result of these efforts. With the gradual move
away from non-sustainable plastics, LEGO is following similar paths
to other plastic-dependent brands such as McDonald's and Ikea.
www.lego.com
Photo credits: Richard Lunt/Michigan State University, AsiaWire, Shutterstock