The Department will be focusing its research and teaching in the coming years on three major challenges to which it intends to contribute new approaches to sustainable development.
Interception and evaporation limit the amount of summer precipitation reaching forest soils. As a result, beech and spruce trees are dominantly transpiring precipitation originating from the winter half of the year. Sufficient soil water storage is key during extended summer dry periods.
Swiss cities are more likely to accept densification when densification projects provide affordable housing and green spaces compared to densification that is implemented through reduced regulations for housing construction. By prioritizing a socio-ecological densification, extensive planning procedures and delays might be minimized. This is shown in a report from the D-BAUG Chair of Spatial Development and Urban Policy.
Antarctica harbours a large concentration of meteorites imbuing the icy continent with an unparalleled wealth of information on our Solar System. However, these precious meteorites are rapidly disappearing from the ice sheet surface due to global warming, according to a new study in Nature Climate Change.
Researchers at ETH Zurich led by Robert Boes are developing specific solutions to optimise electricity production from Swiss hydropower plants. This will ensure that hydropower remains the backbone of Switzerland’s electricity supply in the future.
On 29 February 2024, the graduation ceremony for the Master’s programme in Environmental Engineering took place in the Audimax of ETH Zurich. About 40 graduates attended the ceremony together with their families and friends. Nickolas Meyer, CEO of ecoinvent, gave the keynote speech. The Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering congratulates its environmental engineers on their successful graduation and wishes them all the best for the future!
Renovating buildings to improve their energy efficiency is a crucial step towards Switzerland achieving its climate targets. ETH Zurich researchers can now reveal the most effective renovation strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: replace fossil-fuel heating systems and harness the potential of bio-based building materials like straw and hemp. The study in the journal "Nature Communications" was led by Alina Galimshina and professors Bruno Sudret and Guillaume Habert.