Sustainability

Urban gardens provide a new perspectives for nature conservation and nature connection. How can urban gardens contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and to what extent do they benefit human health? Monika Egerer, Professor of Urban Productive Ecosystems at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), will explain how ecosystems in our neighborhood can provide habitats for animals, plants and people at her TUM@Freising lecture on Monday, December 13, 2021. The event is held in hybrid.

Diamonds for quantum technology, a test for urinary tract infections and a machine learning method for testing computer games: these three start-ups ideas were announced yesterday as winners of the TUM IDEAward. The day also marked the first-ever presentation of the TUM Deep Tech IDEAward, offered to teams established in other countries that wish to launch their start-up in Munich.

OroraTech, a startup formed at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), is preparing to launch a fleet of small satellites. They will use infrared cameras to detect temperature anomalies at high temporal and spatial resolutions. With the data, the young entrepreneurs want to localize forest fires quickly and track their spread in real time. The start-up is this year's winner of The Spark – The German Digital Award which is awarded by the daily newspaper Handelsblatt and the management consultancy McKinsey.

European banks will soon be required to incorporate climate change risks into the stress testing of their equity. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now developed a new approach in cooperation with the Frankfurt Institute for Risk Management and Regulation (FIRM). In a case study they applied their stress testing method in several CO2 pricing scenarios. Due to sharp rises in probabilities of credit default in several industries, the results show that the bank in question would face significant decreases in capital ratios. The model can help banks to prepare for future risks.

Companies in the digital technology industry are significantly underreporting the greenhouse gas emissions arising along the value chain of their products. Across a sample of 56 major tech companies surveyed in a study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), more than half of these emissions were excluded from self-reporting in 2019. At approximately 390 megatons carbon dioxide equivalents, the omitted emissions are in the same ballpark as the carbon footprint of Australia. The research team has developed a method for spotting sources of error and calculating the omitted disclosures.

Biogas is an important factor in the implementation of the energy transition. But there is room for improvement in the efficiency of these facilities. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a plant concept that combines greater power output with a smaller carbon footprint. With this, the team also impressed at the “XPRIZE Carbon Removal Student Competition”, which is supported by the foundation of the entrepreneur Elon Musk. The young researchers and doctoral candidates won a grant of up to 250,000 US dollars to implement their concept.

What could motivate city dwellers to drive less? The startup Plan4Better has developed an urban planning tool to design cities where everyday destinations can be reached on foot or by bicycle within 15 minutes. The Technical University of Munich (TUM) spinout has received the City of Munich Innovation Award among other honors.

Cities and urban lifestyles are a major cause of climate change. At the same time, cities are increasingly affected by the impacts of climate change, including extreme events such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall. The “Green City of the Future” project, exploring solutions to address climate change and densification of the built environment in growing cities, has been shortlisted as a finalist for the German Sustainability Award in the field of research. It’s now over to the public to decide on the winning project via an online vote.

The weather conditions in the winter and during the transitional phases from fall to winter and winter to spring have a significant influence on the yield level of key cereal crops, such as winter barley and winter wheat. These were the findings of a research team of scientists at the Chair of Plant Nutrition at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

It is an ambitious goal: By 2030 the German government aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 65 percent compared to 1990. But how? With partners from industry and research institutes, scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are working on prototypes for an electric-powered truck and the charging station it will need.