Scientists from the University of Innsbruck have designed an exhibit that is travelling through German and Austrian waters this summer as part of a hands-on exhibition on the MS Wissenschaft ship. It playfully illustrates how efficient construction reduces the energy requirements of buildings.
How can we design buildings so that they are cosy and warm even in winter - while consuming hardly any energy? This question is at the heart of the University of Innsbruck's contribution to MS Science 2025, a ship that weighed anchor in Berlin on 14 May 2025. The floating hands-on exhibition has been travelling to 29 locations in Germany every summer for 20 years - in the Science Year 2025 on the topic of "Future Energy".
The "Energy-efficient buildings" model invites visitors to use their own muscle power to experience how much energy a poorly insulated house consumes compared to an energy-efficient new build. By independently turning a crank, heat - symbolised by water - is fed into the two building variants. The flow of water required in each case to reach the temperature (water level height) then illustrates the difference in heat loss between an unrenovated old building and a passive house. This shows that good insulation can reduce the energy requirement by up to 90 % and the use of a heat pump can also feed in environmental heat.
The exhibit, which will also be used in future at events such as Long Night of Research or Tyrolean University Day, picks up on important themes from this year's exhibition. In particular, it deals with the increasing global demand for energy, limited resources and the challenges of climate change for governments, industry and citizens. The scientific basis was provided by the team from the Energy Efficient Building Unit at the University of Innsbruck. Research is being conducted there into innovative solutions for reducing energy consumption and decarbonising the building sector. The findings are channelled directly into real construction projects - from the renovation of existing buildings to the construction of new passive houses. Energy efficiency and renewable energies are the key to a successful energy transition, and this is where building research can make a key contribution to climate protection.