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European subsidy awarded to U!REKA collaboration

Partner institutions AUAS, Frankfurt UAS, Metropolia UAS and VSB-TUO Ostrava have received the grant from the Driving Urban Transitions partnership for a study into Positive Energy Districts (PED): 4A4PEDs.
arial view of city

U!REKA European University has been awarded the grant for research into sustainable, reliable, accessible and safe local energy systems in the city. The funds come from the DUT programme, the European Partnership Driving Urban Transitions. This European network stimulates research and innovation aimed at solving urban challenges. The project coordinator is EURAC.

This project allows the U!REKA European University Alliance to strengthen joint research in this domain, in cooperation with our stakeholders.

According to Eurostat, over 41 million Europeans were unable to adequately heat their homes in 2022. Due to the recent pandemic and the war in Ukraine, European cities found themselves unable to adjust to the changing energy landscape. This led to energy poverty partially caused by a combination of high energy costs, high overall inflation and poor energy efficiency of buildings. One way for cities to better adapt to this challenge is to increase their energy resilience. In this study we aim to create a framework model for cities addressing four different energy resilience principles (the four A’s), namely Availability of sufficient and diverse sustainable energy sources next to storage capacity; Accessibility to sustainable sources through physical and institutional infrastructures for distribution and exchange; Affordability for individual households, business, and communities; through the activation of a PED.

We work with an alliance of all stakeholders in their different capacities. In addition, we support the application of the 4Aapproach in four living labs: Amstelveen (NL), Verona (IT), Helsinki Metropolitan Region (FIN) and Battenberg/Hatzfeld (GER). Finally, we will develop tools and guidelines for PED implementation to be disseminated via our networks of European platforms and an educational partnership with a European University with a mission on climate neutral cities (U!REKA).