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* lounge music *
It's happening here and now:
New urban landscapes are emerging before our eyes.
But what will our cities look like in 20 or 50 years?
Will they be more livable?
Or is urban improvement merely a utopia?
The answer lies in intelligent planning,
innovative building technologies and urban greening.
Today's so-called smart cities
are the proving grounds for the cities of tomorrow.
* lounge music *
Singapore is a leading business location
and on its way to becoming a so-called smart nation.
The small city state - barely twice the size of Vienna -
can only grow in one direction: upwards.
96 percent of Singapore's 5.6 million inhabitants
live in high-rise buildings.
Sustainable construction is encouraged by the government,
since water, energy and building materials are scarce.
Singapore's University of Technology and Design
offers classes in sustainable architecture.
One of the professors comes from Austria.
(man:) >The courtyards and void spaces in-between.
>You can also see that the concrete elements
are shaped in different ways.
>These features also provide shade to the parts of the facade.
>In Singapore, since we are almost exactly on the equator,
we have most solar impact on the east and west facades.
>That is why here on the north and south facades,
we have long stretches of facades because there is less solar impact.
>But then, when you look at the ends, here, all the east and west facades
are very small so that they don't have as much solar impact.
The facade's overhanging metal and concrete elements
shield against the tropical heat.
The design allows for sufficient daylight inside,
while also providing shade and protection against rain.
In recent years, architects have also increasingly focused on greening.
>Singapore is often called Asia's greenest city.
>The tropical climate plays an important role,
as it helps the vegetation to grow quickly.
>In turn, this green component has a positive impact
on the climate in the city.
>For example, the shade provided by the many trees
helps keep the sidewalk and street pavement from getting too hot.
>And the green facades have a similar effect — providing shade
to keep building temperatures much cooler than they would be otherwise.
* traffic noise *
Plants overgrow skyscrapers, forming lush vertical gardens
that benefit the microclimate and quality of life.
This "urban jungle" is a low-tech solution for climate issues.
The city's green buildings make Sin- gapore an international role model.
The United World College is a certified green building.
The campus was developed with sus- tainability as the guiding principle.
It is only 8 a.m. and the outside temperature
is already 30 degrees Celsius in tropical Singapore.
With staggering amounts of energy used each day
to keep the city's air conditioning units running,
the school leadership was intent on finding a less wasteful alternative
for keeping the classrooms cool.
* kids' voices *
In 2012, one of the world's largest solar cooling systems was installed.
It was developed and tested in Austria.
On the college's roof, high-performance solar collectors
produce boiling hot water even with diffuse sunlight,
which often prevails in the tropics.
* monotonous music *
The solar plant can supply the entire warm water needs
of the school, its boarding home and canteen.
In addition, the solar heated water is used to pre-cool the classrooms.
As a result, the school building
uses up to 60 percent less power for electric cooling
than the average building in Singapore.
The plant's dimensions are impressive.
>The solar thermal collector field
has a size of approximately 3,900 square meters.
>It is the biggest solar thermal system in Singapore.
>The heat produced by the solar collector field
is transmitted to the solar storage tank via a network of pipes
which is approximately 2,400 meters in length.
30 minutes before classes start, the chiller is activated to convert
hot water from the solar collectors into cool water via evaporation.
It is pumped into a network of pipes to precool the classrooms.
Thanks to its state-of-the-art facilities
the school has achieved Singapore's highest green building certification.
* soft music *
In the northern hemisphere buildings must be heated,
in the tropics they must be cooled.
These researchers have also developed an experimental concept
for cooling buildings and are able to test it at the school.
An office building was built according to their design.
>In Singapore, if you want to look at energy efficiency in buildings,
you'll immediately point at air conditioning.
>It consumes about 60 percent
of the building stocks' electricity consumption in the country.
>We're looking at adapting very thin, compact air conditioning systems
that are more energy-efficient.
>A developer who builds a high-rise building
may not be as incentivized with energy savings
as he would about saving space,
either making things larger, more atrium-like, or perhaps -
as 3for2 is — putting more floors into the standard space,
so three for two floors.
>That's in a nutshell the concept.
>Here, we built a pilot to demonstrate the technology.
The building design concept
was developed at the Future Cities Laboratory,
a testing ground for futuristic research
established in 2010 in Singapore as a branch of the ETH Zurich.
Over 100 architects, urban and traffic planners, engineers,
IT specialists and historians from 29 nations
are here to plan the cities of the future.
A young engineer from Austria
is assisting the project group for building cooling.
* lively music *
>The big difference between conventional systems
and our 3for2 concept is that we use water-based cooling
instead of the usual airbased design.
>This has several key advantages.
>It's more space-efficient because we use relatively thin water pipes
instead of large air ducting.
>Plus it is more energy-efficient
due to water having a much higher heat capacity than air.
An infrared camera shows
where the thin pipes carrying cool water run along the ceilings.
These replace the large air ducts
used in conventional air conditioning systems.
As a result, three floors can now fit in the same space as two.
With more and more people living in cities,
and climate change as well as urban heat effects
causing temperatures to rise,
an increasing number of high-rise buildings
will need energy-efficient cooling systems.
* lively music *
Sensors installed in the school office
provide the researchers with continuous real-time data.
The data can also be accessed online by scientists anywhere in the world,
allowing them to take virtual tours
and to learn from the pilot building in Singapore.
* lively music, low-voiced conversation *
Digitalization, rapid data transfer, smart software, high-tech electronics
are revolutionizing the field of construction research.
New imaging and simulation technologies
are being tested in Gleisdorf, Austria.
* conversation in German *
>We need to get the entire side of the facade
to clearly distinguish the windows and thermal bridges.
(man:) >Right. We need to watch the trees.
This one-of-a-kind research project started during winter.
The early morning cold presents the ideal conditions
for the high-tech cameras, which are mounted on a hot-air balloon.
Their job is to capture color and thermal images
of entire city districts.
The researchers are systematically scanning for hotspots
or buildings in need of improvements.
They are much easier to spot from a bird's eye view.
(woman:) >Hotspots are what we call areas in a city
where energy efficiency is low.
>This can be due to heat losses on facades or roofs,
using the wrong energy sources for heating and so on.
>There are a number of criteria for defining a hotspot.
>So we need to analyze the information in more detail.
* buzzing *
Technically advanced drones equipped with infrared cameras
are used in the second part of the research project.
Thermal imaging from the hot-air balloon
has identified the city's problem zones,
but these must now be surveyed in more detail using the drones.
>These are the color and thermal images.
The aerial images are fed into image processing software
that was developed in Austria specifically for this project.
It generates a three-dimensional model on which the thermal images
of each house or entire city districts are superimposed.
* unsettled music *
(man:) >3D imaging offers a major advantage.
>Not only can I view an individual facade,
but also the building's corners, ledges, eaves and roof.
>I can identify all the hotspots and thermal bridges from a single image,
and I can also rotate the view
to more easily determine the needed improvements.
The 3D analysis identifies energy losses,
the simulation software recommends the necessary improvements.
This provides valuable information to city leaders and homeowners alike.
The need for improvements is huge:
Nearly half of all buildings in Central Europe
date to the post-war decades.
In Kapfenberg, too, the focus was on building quickly and cheaply.
Today, a pilot project is underway
to test a completely new renovation method
that does not even require residents to vacate the building.
The method is being tested on an aging building dating from the 1960s.
The former energy guzzler will be turned
into a modern "plus-energy" house
that produces more energy than it consumes.
Ready-made high-tech facade elements
containing the building's entire technical systems
are being installed on the outside.
It took researchers over two years to develop the prototype.
>It's great when others acknowledge
that you have created something innovative.
The prototype will be tested on the building for six months
with continuous monitoring and optimization.
The curtain wall will envelope the old building's exterior —
heating and insulating it, and even producing electricity and hot water
from renewable resources.
>I'm convinced that this will be the future of construction.
>From planning to the building's equipment,
all we do will be based on ecological sustainability.
>If not, the future will be bleak.
>So it would be irresponsible of our profession to act otherwise.
* machine noise *
The prototype has proven successful
and the multifunctional facade can now be permanently installed.
Water pipes, power lines and thermal insulation
are integrated in the prefabricated elements.
It takes only a few weeks to complete the renovation.
The newly adapted building stands among its out-dated neighbors.
It is able to generate nearly all the energy it needs,
using the components integrated in the curtain walls and roof.
The new facade system benefits everyone:
inhabitants, owners and environment.
After two years of testing on the building in Kapfenberg,
the new system will go into series production.
Austrian know-how also provides a win-win effect
for Singapore's Changi Airport.
A hub serving over 60 million annual passengers,
it is ranked as the world's best airport for several years running.
Lighting specialists from Tyrol
have developed a unique daylight system for Changi Airport
to ensure a sense of well-being.
The key innovation is located on the roof, often unnoticed by travelers:
Movable panels are positioned above each of the 900 skylights
of the departure hall.
The panels open and shut like butterfly wings —
depending on the time of day, angle of the sun and weather situation —
to let in the right amount of natural daylight
while keeping out the heat.
Aluminum reflectors help direct the daylight
and thousands of perforated metal panels hanging from the ceiling
disperse the light to maintain perfect daylight conditions inside.
* lounge music *
Artificial lighting is only used at night.
The light management system not only ensures traveler comfort,
but also saves power for lighting and cooling,
so additional costs have been recovered in only five years.
The high-precision reflectors
efficiently and equally disperse light without blinding.
The innovative system and its Tyrolean developers
are now known around the world.
Cities occupy only two percent of the earth's surface,
but consume 75 percent of all resources.
Clearly, we must change to a more sustainable lifestyle
that consumes less energy and natural resources.
Animations show what a smart city might look like,
in this case on a futuristic walk through Graz.
* lively music *
The Styrian state capital is receiving a new landmark —
the Science Tower, which is being erected next to an event hall
on the former site of a steel plant.
The tower will stand like a sculpture in the heart of a new smart city
that will be completed piece by piece by 2024.
As its name implies,
the new Science Tower will also function as a technology laboratory.
New energy technologies are being tested on the building
and soon it will house research companies and start-ups
focusing on green technologies.
Built in the present, the tower sym- bolizes a more livable urban future,
while providing a view onto the city emerging around it
on the 400 hectare site.
* lively music *
>In Graz, there are 60,000 students attending universities,
and a number of leading international companies make their home here.
>Overall, Styria is currently the region
with the highest research and development rate in Europe.
>And I think
that's because we've been able to build a fertile environment for it.
>So, I don't think it's a coincidence
that this smart city project is happening here in Graz.
The Science Tower is an impressive new landmark
and the centerpiece of Smart City Graz,
one of several hundred urban development projects in Austria.
Funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund,
the project is unique in Europe.
A metal collar installed atop the 60-meter high building
provides the supporting structure for its innovative "energy glass".
* unsettled music *
(man:) >We first looked into
what technologies might fit in the tower ten years ago,
starting with the facade.
>Well, we learned that we could use it to harvest energy
and perform energy management functions.
>So we developed a totally new glass technology
on the basis of work done by Professor Grätzel.
>It's modeled after photosynthesis,
meaning it can harvest light energy like plants do,
but the energy is converted into electricity
whereas plants use it for metabolic functions and to grow.
>The electricity is used to power the building's systems.
>Any excess can be stored or fed into the power grid.
>Once many building can do this, it will be like David vs. Goliath,
with lots of small power plants replacing the giant ones.
Two years after groundbreaking,
the tower began functioning as a small power plant.
* lively music *
At ground level, twelve 200 meter deep holes were drilled
to use geothermal energy.
Around the tower's exterior: two thin glass layers,
each only two millimeters thick.
Hardened in a salt bath at 450 degrees and laminated.
Next: ultra light photovoltaic modules which follow the sun,
circumnavigating the building every 24 hours.
They provide sun protection and produce electricity.
And at the very top the peak innovation:
revolutionary energy glass with dye-sensitized cells,
invented by the Swiss chemist Michael Grätzel.
The cells absorb sunlight via dye pigments instead of silicon
to produce electricity.
>When we began designing the building,
energy glass was purely in a research stage.
>The first Grätzel cell back then measured only one square centimeter —
great potential but much too small for a facade.
>So we didn't know if it would be ready in time.
>But we were all convinced that it was the right technology.
The cells generate electricity even in diffuse light,
with excess power fed to a microgrid.
In the near future, electric vehicles will be able
to charge their batteries at the foot of the tower.
In the meantime, the building's first occupants have moved in.
They have big plans for the highly livable, urban future
that is coming into being on the idle industrial site —
no doubt encouraged by the latest innovations in building technology.
>We considered a lot of different potential solutions.
>You could describe the process
as moving two steps forward and one step back.
>And it's not finished yet.
>Because in the years to come, the Science Tower will continue
to be used for testing and implementing new technologies.
* lively music *
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