In the Swabian city of Esslingen am Neckar, the site of the old freight depot is being turned into a research district: the innovative and sustainable “Neue Weststadt” will be built here on an area of 100,000 m2 – offering 450 apartments, office and commercial space, as well as a new building for the Esslingen University of Applied Sciences. The district integrates the use of hydrogen with the aim of achieving annual CO2 emissions of less than one ton per resident for housing and mobility and to support the first urban climate goal of reducing CO2 emissions within the city of Esslingen by a quarter. Surplus renewable energy (power) – generated by local photovoltaics and from supraregional electricity generation – is converted by electrolysis. Green H2 is produced, stored and used to substitute fossil fuels, according to demand, in mobility and industry or fed into the gas grid. Waste heat from the electrolysis process is used to supply heat to the neighborhood.
[Latest update: September 2024]
