Urban System - Innovations - Services

Energy Efficient City Competition
The multi-stage "Energy-Efficient City Competition" was set up by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2008. During the initial competition stage, 72 proposals were submitted, with 67 German municipalities involved. Among them were 14 country and small towns, 25 medium-sized towns and 28 large towns and cities. In the first phase, 15 municipalities were encouraged to draw up an implementation concept. In 2010, a steering committee chose five implementation concepts as the winning entries, which were then awarded by Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan. These are currently in the implementation phase which will last until 2016. The cities awarded for their implementation concepts were Delitzsch, Essen, Magdeburg, Stuttgart and Wolfhagen.

The concept phase and the implementation phase are supplemented by accompanying research with specific focuses and an independent research contribution. Further information can be found on the project website at https://www.wettbewerb-energieeffiziente-stadt.de/.

First funding period accompanying research (2008-2010)
The research project "Development of instruments for the integration of services and energy research using the example of the accompanying research for the "Energy-Efficient City Competition" supported the competition by providing accompanying research with independent research content - with a view to linking services and energy efficiency. The focal point of the research was on the analysis of the links between energy and service research, led by the Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT). The BMBF, the steering committee and the project executors PtJ and DLR were provided with discussion and decision-making bases to help them set up the competition.

The focus of the BLM work programme was on the development of a system for the creation and management of a target and requirement system, and the conception and prototype implementation of such a system as a supporting web application for municipal actors. The resulting SIAS concept essentially combines a process model for the early planning stages with a modular, systematic set of indicators and a coordinated information portal. This should enable small and medium-sized municipalities to start the analysis and goal-planning phase in a structured manner, to identify individual fields of action, and to make precise use of the experiences of other municipalities. Special characteristics of the concept are context-sensitive benchmark functions for the estimation of the initial state and the target state.

Second funding period accompanying research (2011-2016)
In this phase, the supporting research is divided into two complementary areas, and focuses on services (IZT, B.&S.U.) and energy (LEE, IIP, BLM).

As part of this supporting research, the BLM is also working on planning-based concepts and IT planning tools. The focus is on the design of an integrated planning methodology for energy-efficient municipal development. Underlining the work are, depending on the diversity of the planning object, planning models from various disciplines, such as product development, integrated building planning and spatial planning. Transferability, adaptability and development opportunities are examined, and the practical processes and experiences of the participating municipalities aligned. The methodological development is intended to form the basis for the derivation of process-related requirements, planning-related conditions and ultimately the design of a planning tool.

The following books have so far been published as a result of the energy-efficient city competition:

• Oertel, B.; Knoll, M. (Hrsg.): Dienstleistungen für die energieeffiziente Stadt. Berlin : Springer Verlag, 2012.
• Koch, M.; Wagner, H.-J. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 1: Gebäude und Haushalte. Berlin : LIT Verlag, 2013.
• Wagner, H.-J.; Görres, J. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 2: Energieversorgung, Energiebilanzierung und Monitoring. Berlin : LIT Verlag, 2014.
• Koch, M.; McKenna, R. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 3: Methoden und Modelle. Berlin : LIT Verlag, 2014.
• Koch, M.; Krüger, V.; Schmidt, J. A. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 4: Stadtentwicklung und Mobilität. Berlin : LIT Verlag, 2015.
• Wagner, H.-J.; Sager, Ch. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 5: Kommunikation und Partizipation. Berlin : LIT Verlag, 2015.
• Wagner, H.-J.; Verhoog, M. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 6: Akteure und Netzwerke. Berlin : LIT Verlag, 2015.
• Koch, M.; Jacobsen, H; Oertel, B. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 7: Dienstleistungen für die energieeffiziente Stadt. Berlin : LIT Verlag, 2016.
• Wagner, H.-J.; von Both, P. (Hrsg.): Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt : Band 8: Gute Beispiele der Umsetzungsphase. Berlin : LIT Verlag (In Druck).