Event Planning | Green Meetings & CSR | Initiatives in the Vienna Meetings Industry | Austria Center Vienna

Austria Center Vienna

"Green meetings" and "green venues" are hot topics for the conference industry, if only because of the economic crisis, and the importance of alternative energy sources, energy saving, climate change and energy shortages. While green meetings are up to conference organisers, the onus for green venues is on conference centres themselves.

Conference centres everywhere are jumping on the bandwagon - all the more reason for the Austria Center Vienna to stress its own green credentials, and those of house caterers Eurest. Sustainability, energy efficiency and waste management are the key issues, but value for money also matters to customers.

The Austria Center building was designed from the ground up for sustainable energy and water supplies.

The power supply from Vienna utility Wien Energie comes from a mix of oil, gas and hydro and biomass generation.

The central and water heating systems are entirely fed by the Fermwärme Wien (FWW) district heating network. FWW sources almost all of its heat from environmentally friendly waste incinerators and cogeneration plants, and only when outside temperatures fall below freezing point do standby heating stations swing into action.

Air conditioning is normally provided by a district cooling plant that uses environmentally sound refrigerants.

Drinking water is drawn from the Wiener Wasserwerke network, and service water for cooling, garden watering and toilet flushing (installation work in progress) from local wells and water treatment plants.

The following action has been taken to conserve energy and water:

• The air conditioning systems that serve all the halls in the complex were equipped with heat recovery systems (rotating heat exchangers using inlet and outlet air) when the ACV was built. They cut district heating costs by recycling heat.
• The windows and doors at the ACV have had energy-saving triple glazing from the outset.
• A 120 square metre thermal solar array meets the warm water requirements of the kitchens and toilets for hours at a time between April and October.
• Shutting down redundant boilers has cut energy losses from heating excessive amounts of hot water.
• Additional district heating savings have also been achieved by lowering the temperature of warm water from approx. 60°C to some 55°C.
• All the circulating pumps in the radiator circuit have been replaced with power saving variable speed pumps. Subdivision of radiator circuits into smaller areas, using centrally controlled valves, cuts district heating use as radiators are now only turned on when needed.
• Replacement of the secondary transformer pumps for the air conditioning systems by variable speed pumps with frequency converters means that the amount of water circulated to air conditioning units can now be regulated to match demand.
• The filament lamps on the escape routes have been replaced with LEDs.

The following energy saving measures will be introduced in the next few months:

• The water supply for lavatory flushes and garden watering will be drawn from the service water system at the Vienna International Centre (VIC) to decrease consumption of potable water from the municipal supply network.
• Replacement of the transformer control systems will reduce operating costs by avoiding idling losses.
• The new control systems will make it possible to program the hot water circuits for complete shutdown overnight and on weekends, and for operation according to the event schedule.
• Ongoing replacement of all the air conditioning control systems will enable them to be operated more efficiently.

Catering
House caterers Eurest and e-catering are committed to meeting their legal and moral responsibilities in all aspects of their activities as food service providers. Eurest and e-catering's environmental management approach is based on seven key principles:

• Less packaging, and preference for recyclable over disposable materials.
• Environmentally aware purchasing: environmentally friendly products, recommendation of organic goods, etc.
• Energy saving, particularly in the use of kitchen appliances and lighting.
• Careful use of water in food preparation, washing up, etc.
• Advice on technical solutions for water and energy consumption monitoring and reduction.
• Minimisation of grease discharges to wastewater.
• Careful use of cleaning products and disinfectants.

The companies are committed to complying with all applicable regulations, and to doing their utmost to reduce their environmental impacts in terms of emissions to the soil and atmosphere, waste, energy use, water and wastewater protection, and recycling.

Activities
After a successful inaugural event in 2008 the ACV is pleased to announce that it will be hosting an international conference for environmental technology and renewable energy for the second time next year. Held biennially, envietech2010 has taken place on 4-5 February 2010. The next envietech will be the first to be jointly sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, the OECD and the State of California, in line with the international nature of the issues involved. It goes without saying that the event will be carbon neutral.About 500 people from all over the world are expected to attend the conference and related exhibition.
For more information visit www.envietech.at.

More information:
www.acv.at