The research group 'Energy Efficiency in Construction' is dedicated to the scientific investigation of methods to reduce the energy consumption of buildings and settlements, up to zero-energy buildings and energy-positive settlement components. The focus is on innovative and energy-efficient technologies, which are investigated by means of interdisciplinary research approaches at the building and settlement level, for example within the project “SWIVT – Settlement Building Components for Existing Residential Quarters – Impulses for the Networking of Energy-Efficient Technologies”. The researchers are in close professional exchange with partner institutes within and outside of the TU Darmstadt as well as with local building contractors and energy suppliers and thus develop system solutions to reduce the energy demand in the building sector. In addition, the scientists are dedicated to researching innovative, thermally activated façade elements, which are applied to and investigated in the lighthouse project “ETA-Fabrik: Energy-Efficient Factory for Interdisciplinary Technology and Application Research”, among others. In this context, the issue of life cycle costs is also examined. A further research focus is the development of energy-active and energy-flexible building envelope elements with the aim of energy-flexible thermal conditioning of rooms, which is pursued in the research project “SynErgy”, among others.