Sustainable energy usage

Using energy instead of wasting it

Tyrol is on its way to energy autonomy. By 2050, our energy consumption is on track to be halved and covered completely by renewable energy sources. This goal can only be achieved if we tackle it together. Energy consumption starts at home, continuing in the office and our leisure activities. How we live, i.e. how we heat, ventilate, cool, cook and consume resources and electricity in all situations in life has an influence on the overall energy balance of Tyrol. Where do the resources we consume every day come from? What significance do they have for our lives? Here you will find information about raw materials and resources as well as tips on how you can save energy, resources and money in your everyday life.

More sustainability in everyday life

Sustainability: just a buzzword?

Nowadays sustainability is probably one of the most used words, often in marketing and green-washing. In public, a product or a company is sometimes given an environmentally friendly or responsible image without there being a sufficient basis for it. “Sustainable” products sell well. We discuss what “sustainability” means in the true sense of the word and how we can make our lifestyle genuinely more sustainable. You will find, for example, healthy recipes, DIY instructions for environmentally friendly personal hygiene and household cleaners, as well as tips on how to use personal resources.

By avoiding waste we also avoid worrying about to much waste

Microplastic, disposable plastic, plastic in the body?
Plastic has literally been on everyone's lips for quite some time. From next year, many single-use plastic products will be banned throughout the EU. So why has the once highly praised material of plastic become so notorious? What can each of us do against the flood of plastic? When does a disposable product make more sense than a reusable product? How can I avoid food waste? In this section of the Future Blog we want to show alternatives to plastic and other climate-damaging materials, make the changeover easier for you and give some suggestions for upcycling and repair.

Leisure time

Celebrating, giving, gardening – how we can make our leisure time more sustainable

Whether it's cut flowers for Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve fireworks or disposable cups at a birthday party: there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to sustainability in our free time. It is easy to save resources and waste at parties. Hobby gardeners who want to practice sustainable gardening can find inspiration here. When planting and caring for plants on the balcony or in the garden, there are many environmentally-friendly and climate-friendly alternatives. In this section of the Future Blog, I will tell you how to hold a sustainable event and what alternatives there are to conventional gifts, packaging and “disposable” costumes.

Biodiversity & habitat

Secure biodiversity and living space sustainably
Bees and flowers
Extinction of species is an omnipresent topic in the media. A very high percentage of land in Austria is developed. But what can each of us do about it? Why are species worthy of protection and how are habitats being lost? What are ecosystem services and why are we dependent on them? In this section, we want to explain why protecting biodiversity is about more than protecting the honey bee. We will then present individual Kufstein habitats and discuss their importance for us humans.

On the road

Travelling sustainably

A lot can be reached on foot or by alternative means of transport, but people often use the car out of habit. By rethinking your personal mobility you can find ways to be more climate-friendly in everyday situations. For most people, the choice of transport depends on the factors of time, cost and environmental impact. Convenience also plays a major role, especially when it comes to the weather. Riding a bike or walking in the rain is something that puts a lot of people off. But the advantages of these climate-friendly forms of mobility clearly outweigh the disadvantages.
Especially when it comes to short distances, the destination is often reached faster than with other means of transport.

How climate-friendly is your personal mobility? Now is a good time for an update!

Support local economy and fair trade

Regional value creation starts with you
Our purchase decisions let us influence what is offered by the industry. When we reach for a product on the shelf and spend our money on it, we help decide what will be found on the shelf in the future and which products might be removed from the range. Regional value creation contributes to securing jobs in our region and can also be climate-friendly as transport routes, cooling, packaging and other resources can be saved through small-scale economic cycles. Ask questions about where the product comes from, under what conditions it was produced and whether there are regionally produced alternatives. They do exist! For example regionally available “farmer's boxes,” farm shops or vending machines and self-service shops at the farm or butcher. We want to get to the bottom of these and many other topics in the areas of consumption, regionality, personal shopping behaviour, eco-balance and labels.

K2go

Do you love drinking your coffee on the go?
Mobile coffee enjoyment is very popular. However this form of consumption has a downside – it creates a large amount of problematic waste. Single-use coffee cups are not made exclusively of cardboard. They are usually covered with a layer of plastic to make them leak-proof.

These coffee cups are an environmental problem.
Kaffeebecher sind ein Umweltproblem
Around 600 million disposable cups are thrown away in Austria every year, with coffee-to-go cups accounting for about half of them.

These cups are often covered with waterproof plastic latex, meaning that they are neither biodegradable nor can they be recycled.

Austrians drink 162 litres of coffee per year, or an average of 2.6 cups per day.

A quarter (21%) of all Austrians like to enjoy their coffee on the go, mostly in disposable paper cups.

Sources:
www.gast.at/nachhaltigkeit/www.gast.at/nachhaltigkeit/neue-ideen-fuer-coffee-go-145986
www.meinbezirk.at/salzburg-stadt/lokales/coffee-to-go-aber-bitte-ohne-den-muell-d2035111.
www.vienna.at/tag-des-kaffees-oesterreicher-trinken-taeglich-ueber-zwei-tassen/3367621
kaffeeverband.at/coffee-to-go-ab-immediately-reusable cup/
www.wien.gv.at/umwelt-klimaschutz/kaffee.html

We have the solution for you!
K2go is a new, innovative returnable cup system that will be offered in and around Kufstein from April 2019.

You can “borrow” a high-quality returnable cup (with a deposit) from a number of Partnerbetrieben in the region, enjoy your coffee and return the cup whenever you get the chance.

You are naturally free to use the cup as often as you like.

When you buy your coffee on the go, ask for the K2go cup and help protect our environment!