There are a range of passive technologies available for making a building sustainable - covering the spectrum from the overall design of the building to the size of the glass surface area.

Active methods concern building technology and include heating, cooling, ventilation, climate control, artificial lighting and building automation.

The Energy Department favours a holistic approach, marrying each of these areas to create the perfect combination under given framework conditions.

Individual buildings are not taken as separate entities, but instead are regarded in an urban context and in conjunction with planned or existing energy networks.

If, for example, certain buildings are consuming large amounts of electricity during the night and others mostly during the day, a balance can be achieved with well designed interfaces and control mechanisms between buildings and the network.

In this context the energy department is developing new simulation techniques which allow the optimum building properties, heating, ventilation and cooling systems in conjunction with climate control technologies to be selected automatically during the planning phase.