State Secretary Splett and Head of Office Steinbach got an impression of the modern refrigeration system at the HFT Stuttgart high above the roofs of Stuttgart.

Prof. Rainer Franke, Rector of the HFT Stuttgart yesterday received State Secretary of Finance Gisela Splett and Ulrich Steinbach, Head of the Ministry of Science, Research and Art at the university. The focus of the meeting was the joint project EnSign Reallabor between the HFT Stuttgart, the Stuttgart University Construction Office and the Hohenheim University of Applied Sciences.

The aim of the EnSign Reallabor project is to develop energy strategies for the climate neutrality of the university's inner-city campus. In order to achieve this project goal, several buildings from different historical periods have to be checked for their energetic and sustainable optimisation needs and accordingly have to be extensively renovated. To support this task, the HFT Stuttgart will receive a refrigeration system powered by solar energy. A reduction of the electricity requirement by 130,000 kWh per year is planned. This corresponds to about 52 tons less CO2 emissions per year. The state of Baden-Württemberg is investing around 1.9 million euros in this project. "With the new cooling supply, we are making a contribution to climate protection by using solar energy for cooling. We are also saving cash because we are reducing the electricity costs of the HFT Stuttgart by around 25,000 euros per year," said State Secretary of Finance Gisela Splett, and Prof. Rainer Franke added: "This is another building block on our path to becoming a climate-neutral university, with which we want to fulfil our social responsibility".

Their visit gave State Secretary Splett and Head of Office Steinbach a comprehensive impression of the modern refrigeration system on the roof of the HFT Stuttgart.

"A university campus can be the ideal real laboratory where ideas can be developed, implemented and tested. In this way, new action models for climate protection can be tested and researched. The highly innovative refrigeration system using regenerative energies at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences is an important contribution to CO2 reduction. We therefore expressly welcome the work of the university, which is thus making an important contribution to the state government's goal of a largely climate-neutral state administration". emphasised Ulrich Steinbach.

The EnSign Reallabor project began in 2012. For the current construction measures, the HFT Stuttgart and the state property and building construction administration are in close coordination.

Publish date: 14. July 2020
By Katrin Fuchs (Katrin.Fuchs@hft-stuttgart.de)