Last week, at TU Dresden, the official launch of the long-term research project "National 5G Energy Hub" took place. The aim is to make the future mobile radio standard 5G usable for applications in energy technology.

A new, almost climate-neutral city district is being built on a former freight station site in Esslingen. Over a period of five years, scientists are testing an innovative energy supply concept in the planned "Neue Weststadt" district, in which surplus electricity from

Researchers at Munich University of Applied Sciences and Dresden University of Technology have developed an innovative energy concept for a plus-energy district, which is to be implemented in the "Neue Mitte" of Geretsried (Bavaria) by the end of 2019.

Since autumn 2016, a new passive-house standard residential district has been under construction at the science and technology location Berlin Adlershof.

Measurements on real heat generator plants show that efficiency parameters determined by calculation sometimes deviate considerably from the values recorded by measurement technology. This applies in particular to heat pumps and micro combined heat and power plants. The 

Further efforts are needed to achieve the climate protection targets. This was also the tenor of two events on Tuesday at the Berlin Energy Days:

How can districts get by with energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energies almost without fossil fuels? How can intelligent networking of electricity, heat and mobility be achieved? 

The student competition Solar Decathlon requires the participating teams to develop a completely solar-supplied residential building. More than 250 houses have already been built in the 13 competitions so far. They are all full of a spirit of research, comparable and well documented. 

How can neighbourhoods and settlements contribute to the grid stability and flexibility of our energy system? What are the key technologies? And how can municipalities and private owners be mobilised to make their neighbourhoods energy-efficient and forward-looking?

In 2013, the city of Freiburg im Breisgau announced a competition for the construction of a new administration centre including the town hall in order to bring together its authorities spread over the city area.

The access of start-ups to research funding is to be improved. To this end, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) has set up an AG Startup within the Energy Research Networks.

A new residential district is being built on the site of a former air base in Oldenburg. In addition to new buildings, some of the existing former barracks buildings will be preserved and converted into residential buildings.