Shopping malls, office buildings, residential buildings and public buildings in India shall become more energy efficient. An INFRAS valuation method helps to estimate and evaluate how effective energy efficiency measures in buildings are. (Photo: Sapsiwai, Fotolia)

This is how the transportation of goods and city logistics may work in the future: underground, fully automated and funded by the private sector. How strongly can traffic be reduced by CST? How can the logistics industry and Switzerland as a logistics hub gain from CST? How can Switzerland's economy as a whole benefit from CST? And how does the CST concept meet the requirements of spatial planning? A study carried out by INFRAS on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) provides answers.

Climate change is also a fact in Switzerland. Alpine regions such as the «Grimsel» area are particularly vulnerable. Increasing intensity of natural disasters are threatening local infrastructure as well as settlement. That's why the cantonal civil engineering office of Berne has initiated the project adaptation strategy for the Grimsel region.

Since 1990, Switzerland has strongly extended and consolidated its mix of measures of energy policies and climate policies. This approach has proven successful. While our greenhouse gas emissions would have risen (1990 to 2030: +6%) without the necessary influence of energy political and climate political measures, we can now expect a decline in emissions (1990 to 2030: -17%) due to the implemented and continuous measures. At the same time, however, it has become evident that there is still a need for action if the targeted reduction of -30% shall be achieved (target 2030 in comparision to 1990).

Due to structural changes in the economy and increases in efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland remained constant throughout the last 24 years - despite population and economic expansion (2014 vs. 1990: increase by 20% of both, inhabitants and gross domestic product per inhabitant). Being a member state to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Switzerland is meant to report its greenhouse gas emissions on an annual basis. INFRAS issued this current report on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment.

Due to structural changes in the economy and increases in efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland remained constant throughout the last 24 years - despite population and economic expansion (2014 vs. 1990: increase by 20% of both, inhabitants and gross domestic product per inhabitant). Being a member state to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Switzerland is meant to report its greenhouse gas emissions on an annual basis. INFRAS issued this current report on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment.

The Alpine regions still face a high need for action to improve the environmental situation along the transit corridors. Air quality limits are exceeded, the modal shift from road to rail is stagnating (with the expection of Gotthard). Thus, the region Rhône-Alpes, the Provinces of Bolzano and Trento, the Regions of Aosta Valley and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Piemonte, the Canton of Ticino, Central Switzerland, the Land of Tyrol and the Accademia Europea di Bolzano successfully continued their cooperation in 2015 to further specify elements of their common transport strategy. Especially, a proposition – developed by iMONITRAF! - for a Toll Plus system from the perspective of the regions was documented in an in-depth report, which was discussed on technical as well as political level in 2015.

Not only road traffic, but also non-road mobile machinery like construction machines, agricultural vehicles or garden-care appliances emit significant quantities of air pollutants. The updated non-road inventory of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) quantifies these emissions for Switzerland and shows past and future trends. For the calculations with the INFRAS Non-road Emissions Model, a large amount of data was processed, which was compiled with the commendable support of numerous stakeholders. The results are available as a report of the FOEN series «Environmental studies» as well as via an online database.

A homeowner aims to heat the domestic waste water with solar heat - in order to replace an electric boiler, for example, or as a supplement to a wood heating system. The homeowner has the choice between solar panels or a combination of grid-connected photovoltaics and heat pump. Which system is more favourable? A comparison of technologies established by the Center of Appropriate Technology and Social Ecology (Ökozentrum Langenbruck), together with INFRAS, the Interstate University of Applied Sciences of Technology (NTB Buchs) and the Institute for Solar Technology (SPF Rapperswil) has analysed this issue. The results show this: At present, the answer still depends on each particular case. The combination of grid-connected photovoltaics and heat pump, however, is already very competitive and is likely to become more and more attractive. If solar thermal power does not become more inexpensive in the near future, it is going to face more and more difficulties on the market soon. Hereby you find the link to the final report and to a scientific essay regarding the research project which is supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (BFE).