Hochschule
München
University of
Applied Sciences

Mindsnacks Sustainability

Sustainability

Our lives leave their mark on our planet – can it still be saved? Sustainability is put into practice across all areas at HM: in teaching, research and by making research findings accessible to society. Through our work, we aim to help shape a sustainable world that is a good place to live.

Mindsnacks Sustainability

How can we protect homes from climate change?

The impact of extreme weather events on buildings – such as flooding – can be modelled using 3D simulations. An assessment tool identifies vulnerabilities in and around a building. Homeowners, planners and public authorities can use the results to implement targeted construction measures to make buildings more resilient, i.e. more climate-resilient.

Building resilience

Internal combustion engine cars

Transport is responsible for just under a quarter of global CO2 emissions; from 2035, new cars in the EU must be climate-neutral. E-fuels produced from green electricity are intended to be an alternative. However, as their production is costly and their combustion in cars is highly inefficient, these synthetic fuels require five times as much electricity as an electric car to cover the same distance: the electrification of transport and a reduction in private car use are key

Internal combustion engine cars

How can houses be recycled?

When old houses are demolished, concrete and masonry can be separated from the rubble on site and crushed. When mixed with water and cement, this creates recycled concrete for new buildings. This process saves on materials and eliminates the need to remove construction waste. As a result, CO₂ emissions are reduced by up to 40 per cent compared to conventional concrete. HM Professor Andrea Kustermann from the Department of Civil Engineering is conducting research on this topic.

House recycling

How big are the remaining glaciers in Bavaria?

There are still four glaciers in Bavaria, which together cover an area the size of Munich’s Theresienwiese. Rising temperatures are accelerating the melting process and causing more rain to fall instead of snow. Over the last 20 years, they have already lost 60% of their surface area and will have disappeared by 2050 at the latest. HM Professor Wilfried Hagg from the Department of Geoinformatics is conducting research on this topic.

Glacial melt

Which vegetables can you write on?

Asparagus. Discarded asparagus, peelings or scraps are blended with water and turned into paper without the use of any chemicals. The asparagus fibres are used to produce sheets of paper or sustainable packaging such as strawberry punnets or egg cartons. HM Professor Helga Zollner-Croll from the Department of Technical Systems, Processes and Communication at Hochschule München is conducting research into this topic.

Vegetables for writing

How can windows generate electricity?

Transparent, extremely thin yet highly effective solar cells are applied to the window panes. These thin-film solar cells consist of a three-layer sandwich, which is shaped and made to function correctly using a laser beam. This allows them to generate electricity whilst remaining transparent, unlike the solar cells commonly used today. HM Professor Heinz P. Huber from the Department of Applied Sciences and Mechatronics at HM is conducting research into this topic.

Generating electricity through windows

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