Research

Research at the Chair of Sustainable Engineering

The Chair of Sustainable Engineering at TU Berlin researches data sets, methods and tools to scientifically evaluate the sustainability of technologies, products and services. We publicize our knowledge using scientific publications or other media. Our cooperation projects build bridges between research and practice, helping to make sustainability part of the daily practice of engineers.

See the links on the right-hand side for a list of publications of the Chair of Sustainable Engineering.

Publications

A separate subpage and a Zotero group list the publications of the Chair of Sustainable Engineering.

List of publications at www.tu.berlin
Interactive list of publications at www.zotero.org

Methods and data sets for the scientific assessment of the sustainability of products and technologies.

Tools on the topic of "water footprint".

Our cooperations build bridges between researchers, the wider academic community and users.

Basic research, applied research and transfer of knowledge into daily engineering practice.

Assessment of resource efficiency in the context of sustainable development

Life cycle assessment of a person

Characterization model for calculating fair wage equivalents

Method for assessing the criticality of abiotic resources at the regional level

Implications for water footprinting

Development of a comprehensive approach to modeling the availability of abiotic resources in the context of sustainable development

The organizational water footprint practitioner’s guide was developed as part of the BMBF-funded project WELLE and guides practitioners in assessing the water footprint of an organisation or a company. Two ISO standards, namely ISO 14046 and ISO 14072, were critical in developing the organizational water footprint method. Readers are advised to consult these standards in order to familiarize themselves with terminology used in the OWF Practitioner’s Guidance.

Accounting for atmospheric evaporation recycling and assessment of the risk of depletion of fresh water resources in water footprints

The WELLE OWF Tool enables companies (and organizations) to calculate the organizational water footprint of their activities as well as the identification of water hotspots along their supply chain.

The tool shows the results of the study “Water Footprint of German and European imports of agricultural products: trends and development in the context of water scarcity” by visualizing the agricultural imports to Germany (by mass), the associated virtual water flows as well as the resulting water scarcity footprint in the exporting countries.

The InnoCottonGROW tool results from the "InoCottonGROW – an innovative approach for reducing Water Footprint of the global cotton textile industry towards UN sustainable development goals" project. It allows to explore specific water related cause-effects chains of cotton consumption with regard to impacts on human health, ecosystems and water resources.

The tool shows the results of the study “Water Footprint of German and European imports of agricultural products: trends and development in the context of water scarcity” by visualizing the agricultural imports to the European Union (by mass), the associated virtual water flows as well as the resulting water scarcity footprint in the exporting countries.

A global run of the WAM-2layers model – a numerical offline tracking model for the tracking of atmospheric moisture. Tracking on a 1.5° x 1.5° grid based on reanalysis data (source: Era Interim) of the last 18 years (2001-2018).

Tabular overview of Water Footprint concepts, guidelines, methodologies, standards, databases and other related materials. The overview helps users to navigate through the variety of water footprint-related materials based on a comprehensive set of criteria e.g. level of application, system boundary, scope, spatiotemporal resolution and more.

Aalto University
AfB social and greenIT (AfB)
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)
Copper Alliance (DKI)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt)
Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN)
Engineers Without Borders International (EWB)
European Container Glass Federation (FEVE)
Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)
German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU)
Institute for Applied Ecology
Institute for Sustainable Economy Berlin (SUSTAINUM)
Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS)
Max-Planck-Society (MPG)
Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC)
NEOPERL GmbH
Netzwerk Großbeerenstraße (NG)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
ORYX Stainless AG
Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research (PIK)
PUMA Europe GmbH
Stahlinstitut VDEh
thyssenkrupp AG
TRIAD Berlin Projektgesellschaft mbH
UNEP - SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
University of Kassel
University of Tokyo
Verband der Deutschen Biokraftstoffindustrie e.V. (VDB)
Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Volkswagen AG
World of Medicine GmbH (WOM)
World Steel Association (AISBL)

Precycling for more resource efficiency - systemic solutions for avoiding packaging (PuR) Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); 06/2019 - 03/2024

Federal Environment Agency (UBA) 08/2019 - 07/2021

Sensory recording, automated identification and evaluation of used parts based on product data as well as information about previous deliveries Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); 09/2019 - 08/2022

klimaneutralisierte Produkte (Initiative KLIMA BEWUSSTER HANDELN) dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co. KG; 2019 – 2021

Life cycle assessment of a human, Dirk Gratzel (entrepreneur), Greenzero.me; 2017 - open

Demonstration of the production suitability of perovskite silicon tandem solar cells (ProTandem) Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) 07/2018 - 06/2021

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 03/2019 - 02/2022

Bewertung der Inanspruchnahme biotischer und abiotischer Ressourcen im Mobilitätssektor: Entwicklung von Ökobilanz-kompatiblen Bewertungskriterien, -methoden und -konzepten (RessMob) Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG) 10/2017 – 09/2020

Association of German Engineers (VDI) 07/2012 - 2020

UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative 11/2016 - 03/2019

Trends and developments in the context of water scarcity 11/2017 - 03/2018

Simplified environmental assessments in the Federal Environment Agency - case studies & method update (VERUM project) Federal Environment Agency (UBA) 02/2015 - 11/2016

Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt) 07/2013 – 02/2015

10/2009 – 12/2011

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) 01/2009 - 12/2010

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 11/2006 - 05/2010

Siemens AG 04/2008 - 01/2009

AfB gemeinnützige GmbH

NEOPERL GmbH

Water footprint for companies - local measures in global value chains (WELLE project) Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 04/2017 - 03/2020

Göflaner Marmor GmbH 10/2019 – 12/2019

Biodiversity impact assessment in life cycle analyzes - Life Cycle Biodiversity Impact Assessment (LC.biodiv.IA) Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) 2017 - 2019

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) / Life cycle initiative of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) 2013 - 2017

Metrics for sustainability assessment in the European process industry (MEASURE) Horizon 2020 of the European Union 01/2015 - 03/2016

Federal Environment Agency (UBA) 2013 - 2014

Resource efficiency in small and medium-sized enterprises (RESEFI) Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 11/2009 - 03/2011

07/2007 – 12/2010

Evaluation of ecological life cycle analyzes for selected applications (EVALCA) Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission 12/2007 - 04/2010

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 04/1998 - 11/2000

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Volkswagen AG

Daimler AG

Innovative impulses to reduce the water footprint of the global cotton textile industry towards UN sustainability goals (InoCotton) Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 2017-2020

WorldAutoSteel 01/2013 - 11/2019

Environmental assessment of the future development of electric vehicles in Europe (EVD4EUR) The Research Council of Norway 01/2016 - 12/2019

Development of a method to evaluate the resource efficiency of Baden-Württemberg (ReBüWa) Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg 10/2016 - 03/2017

ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG 09/2013 - 12/2015

Volkswagen AG 05/2014 - 10/2014

Siemens AG 07/2010 - 09/2011

11/2008 – 06/2010

Volkswagen AG (VW AG) 08/2009 - 02/2010

ORYX Stainless

Cost management system for environmentally friendly electrical and electronic products (grEEEn)

Federal Environment Agency (UBA)

German Research Association (DFG) 01/2018 - 12/2020

Integration von ökologischen Kennwerten biobasierter Werkstoffe in den industriellen Planungs- und Konstruktionsprozess – Methodologie und Werkzeuge Fachagentur für Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (FNR) 2017 - 2020

Development of a sector-specific sustainability assessment methodology for pharmaceutical product and process development (SERUM) Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) 06/2016 - 05/2019

Industrieverband Körperpflege- und Waschmittel e. V. (IKW) 05/2018 - 12/2018

Water consumption in the life cycle assessment (WULCA) United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) / Life cycle initiative of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) 2009 - 2017

Integrated method for holistic calculation / measurement of resource efficiency (ESSENZ) Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 08/2012 - 11/2015

Daimler AG 01/2010 -12/2011

Working group on water, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) / Life cycle initiative of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) 07/2008 - 12/2010

European Copper Institute (ECI) 01/2010 - 06/2010

Alcan Singen GmbH 01/2009 - 03/2009

ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG

Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG)

Critical review according to ISO 14040/14044 for the comparison of blast furnace technologies

CO2 footprint and life cycle assessment of the preparation and marketing of used IT hardware

Life cycle assessment of covelano marble

EVALCA

Material flow management

Updating and automating water footprint studies

Daimler AG water balance

Water in the automobile life cycle

Analysis of resource availability beyond geological reserves

Implementation of "Green Production" in vehicle manufacturing

Environmental Product Declarations - Alucobond (EPD)

Electrification of vehicles

Model for by-products and secondary raw materials for the life cycle assessment of steel