Short News of the Fraunhofer IBP

The final conference of the ORIENTING project will take place on April 18th at the Brussels BIP Meeting Center (Brussels, Belgium) as part of the World Circular Economy Forum WCEF 2024. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP have been involved in the implementation of all sub-projects and also led the work package focusing on the public demonstration of the project results in case studies.

In the campaign titled EnergInno Brazil 2022, interested parties from science and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany were invited to submit innovative ideas on green hydrogen and biogas. The tandem of Andrea Burdack-Freitag, a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, and her project partner, Markus Sailer, at Allnet Computersystems GmbH in Munich, is one of the five winning teams. They convinced the jury with their topic “Biogas Sensor - Intelligent demand controlled biogas monitoring” in the EnergInno Call for Idea & Innovation in the field of biogas.

To live up to their climate pledge under the Paris agreement, EU lawmakers must ensure all 250 million existing as well as all new buildings in the EU become nearly zero greenhouse gas emitters. In a new report, experts nominated by EASAC’s member science academies call for far-reaching policy action. Prof. Dr. Gunnar Grün, Deputy Director of Fraunhofer IBP, contributed to the paper as an EASAC member. In particular, he was able to provide IBP expertise on the important topics and success factors of "plus-energy building" and "renovation of buildings".

Ralf Kilian became Professor of Preventive Conservation of Historical Monuments at the University of Bamberg in December 2020. The appointment under the Jülich model allows him to teach two semester hours per week at the University of Bamberg and to continue working for the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP the rest of the time. The joint appointment is a win-win situation, as joint activities and research projects will give further impetus to preventive conservation.

Council of Ministers of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg approves research program on the reduction of virus transmission via aerosols. A network of Fraunhofer Institutes and other partners is to advise companies on the implementation of ventilation concepts, while at the same time operating test environments together with manufacturers and conducting effectiveness tests of air purification technologies.

In order to explore the potential for sustainability of logistics processes, Fraunhofer IBP's department for Lifecycle Engineering developed the CO2 Environmental Calculator on behalf of the "Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg" (SIM).

Der »Expertenkreis Aerosole« wurde vom Wissenschaftsministerium von Baden-Württemberg am 7. Oktober 2020 zur Klärung der Virusübertragung durch Aerosole einberufen. Das Fraunhofer IBP ist durch Prof. Dr. Gunnar Grün im Expertenkreis vertreten. Prof. Dr. Gunnar Grün ist stellvertretender Institutsleiter am Fraunhofer IBP und Professor für das Lehrgebiet Bauphysik an der Universität Stuttgart. Durch seine langjährige Berufserfahrung und vielfältigen Forschungsarbeiten innerhalb der Abteilung «Energieeffizienz und Raumklima« ist er Experte im Themenfeld Aerosolausbreitung und Raumluftströmungen.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP in Stuttgart have investigated the influence of different masks on acoustic speech quality. The project aims at assessing the acoustic limitations of masks with the aid of an experimental setup and evaluation system, and to develop acoustically optimized face masks.

By developing hydrogen technologies to market maturity within a short period of time, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft aims at making a contribution to the energy turnaround and has therefore set up the Fraunhofer Network “Wasserstoff”. The research activities of over 20 member institutes are pooled here. The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP is also a member of the network.

The health of employees, customers, partners and suppliers is our highest priority. With this in mind, we have reduced operations at our institutes to a minimum. Of course, we are still working and are available for you in our home offices. Communication is therefore by telephone or digital means.

A consortium of companies in Europe developing sustainable fermentation processes to produce pheromones to safely control insect pests of maize, soybean, cotton, and other row crops, has been awarded a major grant of €6.4 million.

"Be part of it and save your heritage" - this is the motto of the crowdfunding campaign of the Pompeii Sustainable Preservation Project (PSPP) to support young restoration workers from all over the world. The aim of the campaign, which will run from 5 March to 8 April 2020, is to offer up to 16 students a place at the PSPP's International Conservation Summer Academy in Pompeii. This not only represents a sustainable contribution to the preservation of our cultural heritage but will also give the students the opportunity to get to know our cultural heritage from a new perspective!

How to tackle the challenges posed by increasing digitization in building operations effectively? The BIM2FM Collaboration Group is concerned with exactly this issue. The current status of its work was presented to the general public at BIM World 2019. Here you can pay a virtual visit to the trade fair presentation.

Fraunhofer Institute For Building Physics IBP Has Partnered With Experimental Philosopher Jonathon Keats On A Revolutionary Urban Planning Scheme for Extreme Climate Change. Preliminary City Designs To Be Revealed At STATE Studio In Berlin Next Month.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is collaborating globally with excellent partners to create synergies for research and build bridges to regional markets. With this in mind, the opening of the Fraunhofer Project Center for Urban Eco-Development at Shanghai Jiao Tong University was celebrated with a festive event on the evening of November 4th, 2019. The aim of the Project Center is cooperation in the areas of smart and ecological construction as well as urban development.

Gunnar Grün has been appointed Professor of Building Physics at the University of Stuttgart with effect from September 3, 2019. His broad range of skills and subject knowledge will be an excellent addition to the research and teaching at the Institute for Acoustics and Building Physics IABP.

The EU Horizont 2020 project CoNZEBs (Cost reduction of new Nearly Zero‐Energy Buildings) has developed a brochure for potential end-users and for those who are already living in multi-family Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs). It informs about experiences, expectations and additional benefits of NZEBs and is available in five languages (German, Danish, Italian, Slovenian and English).