Climate change:

You need strong nerves for a technical talk with Dr. Klaus Radunsky, although the head of the department for International Climate Protection at the Federal Environmental Agency is anything but brute. But one of his tasks is to keep in contact with the relevant climate research projects in Europe and the USA on behalf of the government. The facts and prognoses collected in his office can upset even the most optimistic persons.

Klaus Radunsky represents Austria in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also known as World Climate Council, whose main tasks include assessing climate change risks and gathering avoidance strategies. Where climate change and its effects are concerned, Radunsky is one of the best-informed people in Austria. His key statement is unambiguous: Calculations have shown that the climate will get hotter by 10 degrees till 2060 if the present increase in CO2 emissions, which has been identified undoubtedly as the main cause of climate change, goes on unchecked, Radunsky offers a comparison for this: The increase in temperature which melted the last major ice age was just five degrees. The effects of an increase in temperature of 10 degrees within 50 years were "beyond good and evil in demographic, social, political and ecological regard." According to Radunsky the mental trauma would eventually ensure that "politics can no longer avoid taking counter measures". In the interview with TÜV Times the top official of the Federal Environmental Agency stated that it was up to politics to make that decision.

TÜV increases the energy efficiency of companies and buildings 

TÜV AUSTRIA, as a company with the core competency of testing and measuring, is offering numerous services which will become more and more important in the battle against CO2 emissions: verification of CO2 emissions, issuing of the "energy certificate" for buildings and development of a rehabilitation concept, monitoring of vehicle emissions.

Emissions trading - Experiences with the verification of CO2 emissions

Since 2005 TÜV AUSTRIA has been running an independent testing facility for verifying CO2 emissions. This concerns mainly large-scale plants which are subject to the ECA (Emission Certificate Act). Four experts are working in the testing facility, which has the biggest market share in Austria, and 52 plants are being verified. The amount of CO2 verified in 2006 was 9,075.291 tons of CO2 certified. In total the amount of CO2 emitted in 2006 by the inspected plants was 1.8 % below the amount allotted free of charge. Generally speaking the allotment in Europe during the first period was too high, which also affected the price of the CO2 certificates which went down from a maximum of approx. € 38.– / ton to approx. € 0.1 / ton of CO2 at present (as per July 2007). Our experiences within the framework of the verifications during the first two years of monitoring 2005 and 2006 were as follows:

The price of CO2-Certificates dropped from about 38,–€ /ton of CO2 to approx. 0,1€.

There is great uncertainty in the plants regarding the second allocation period 2008 -2012 since the NAP II (National Allocation Plan) was reduced by the EU - the total amount for allocation of 32.8 million tons of CO2 was reduced by certificates for 2.07 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents annually - and it looks as if the CO2 certificates will be in short supply on the whole. This can also be seen from the price of the certificates for the second period, which is a present in the range from € 20.- to 25.– / CO2 (as per July 2007). New Monitoring Guidelines, which will also be transformed into national law, are expected for the second trading period. In this regard it will be necessary to obtain new notifications in many cases. This gives us the possibility of making use of what we have learnt in the meantime and to remedy defects. TÜV AUSTRIA will certainly help their clients in this.

 The European Energy Certificate will influence the real estate market

With the Buildings Directive and the European Energy Certificate the EU has developed a promising instrument for increasing the energy efficiency of buildings. The federal states, which are competent for subsidized housing, are changing their subsidies system to energy efficiency. Priority is given to objects for which proof of energy-saving construction methods is provided. TÜV AUSTRIA has devised a system to assist real estate administrators in charge of a larger number of buildings in obtaining and administering energy certificates and to show possibilities of additional benefits.

What TÜV AUSTRIA can offer

Reduction of traffic emissions 

From September 2009 stricter emission standards for new diesel cars are to apply in the EU, both for nitric oxides (NOx) and for particulate matter. The limit for the emission of particles is being lowered by four fifths. With the open filter systems used at present the amount of sooth particles emitted could be reduced by 30%. With closed systems, which can be found in new vehicles, a reduction by more than 90% would be possible. TÜV AUSTRIA was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Technology and Traffic to monitor road traffic all over Austria with mobile inspection units and in inspection halls regarding exhaust emissions and traffic and operational safety. In more than 60 000 inspections per year the requirement of Directive 2000/30/EC for the technical en-route inspection of commercial vehicles participating in road traffic in the EU is also to be implemented. The aim of the Directive is to inspect commercial vehicles on the roads of the EU in the interest of traffic safety and environmental protection in regard to their maintenance state.

Ing. Ludwig Pointner, DI Leopold Schöggl, DI Walter Bussek