For many municipalities and mayors it is not easy to perform effective measures to improve the environmental performance and sustainability of their community. Questions arise such as: is a flood protection ecologically acceptable? Is it better to refurbish buildings in the centre of the village rather than to create new business areas in suburbia? Are LED lights and electric cars really as environmentally friendly as it is claimed?

To assist communities to be more energy efficient and thus become more environmentally friendly, a catalogue of measures was created in the project BEZUG by the IFZ together with the AEE INTEC, the Energy Agency Styria and the Regional Management Eastern Styria.

In three major regions of Styria, surveys and interviews were conducted in the municipalities and collected a variety of issues and concerns. The project team collected and evaluated the most frequently mentioned topics and developed ten recommendations for the implementation of sustainable measures. Therefore, for example, the catalogue includes proposals on issues such as street lighting, flood control, building renovation, heat supply or mobility, and points out the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

The catalogue includes different recommendations to energy and resource issues, and thus serves as a sound basis for decision-making in future investments of the municipalities.