The GreenHouse hall of residence provides accommodation for 313 students over 7,000 square metres. It is built to the passive house standard and received a sustainability award from the Austrian Society for Sustainable Building (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen or ÖGNB) in 2014. The electricity for the building is largely generated by photovoltaic systems on the roof; heat and hot water are provided by district heating.
ASCR has also implemented an intelligent building energy management system (BEMS) in the hall of residence. It actively controls the building’s energy supply and optimises its energy consumption. In addition, the BEMS aims to achieve optimum economic results by trading energy flexibilities on the energy markets. Preliminary calculations of the results so far indicate considerable potential: if the pilot technology were installed on 20 percent of Vienna’s buildings, an annual profit of 30 million euros could be generated for the city and its residents.
