Motivation
Today, the building sector is responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. For this reason, the European Commission has set itself the goal of constructing near-zero energy buildings (nZEB) in the future. Innovative building materials, the "grey" energy used and the associated CO2 emissions are important key factors in order to be able to build more sustainably in Europe in the future, both in new and in existing buildings.
Concept
This project aims to provide a sustainable solution or an ecosystem for the construction industry across Europe for the design, development and validation of new material concepts for building facades. The core of the project consists of 9 Pilot Lines located in 7 EU countries and advancement and/or capable of handling different types of advancement. These pilot lines have responsibilities including separation and treatment of construction and demolition waste (CDW), nano-enabled multifunctional materials, development of sustainable materials and products, material characterization and modelling, monitoring and process control, environmental assessment, regulation and standardization, and innovation management. Pilot lines, in future, will be able to provide services to their customers, which do not have required infrastructure, with the services they provide.
Facts about the project:
The Exploit4InnoMat OITB (or Ecosystem) aspires to provide a sustainable solution across Europe for the design, upscaling and validation of new material concepts for the building envelope that will facilitate in the achievement of the EC target for nZEB. The Exploit4InnoMat will provide services across the supply chain of materials, starting from the design and upscaling of them, and going to installation, validation and assessment of scenarios for the end of life. The core of the Exploit4InnoMat is the 8 Pilot Lines, situated in 7 EU countries, able to process different type of advance and/or nano-enabled multifunctional materials, including sorting and processing of construction and demolition wastes (CDW) to be used as secondary raw materials. .
- 27 partners from 11 European countries
- Project start: January 2023
- Duration: 48 months
- Funding: € 11.3 million
Partnership
UNI SYSTEMS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (GR), SINTEF (NO), NTUA (GR), NTNU (NO), RISE (SE), CSIC (ES) UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART (DE), UNYVERSITY OF NAVARRA (ES), KANS (TR), INLECOM COMMERCIAL PATHWAYS (GR), STAM (IT), ADVANCED MATERIAL SIMULATION (ES), BUREAU INTERNATIONAL DU BETON MANUFACTURE (BE), IRIS (ES), YCCM (CY), DBC (GR) TECH INSPIRE (UK), CETMA (IT), WHITESTEPS TECHNOLOGIES (GR), UNIVPM (IT) BEIA CONSULT INTERNATIONAL (RO), UNISMART (IT), FORTH (GR), SOLITEK (LT), CROWDHELIX (IR), NETWORK IRELAND LIMITED (IR), LUCERNE UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES AND ARTS (CH)
More information: https://exploit4innomat.eu/, https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101092339
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.101092339
Scientific Output/Outcome Expected From the Project: The European Green Deal and Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB) are becoming the new standard in Europe, efforts to reduce building materials and energy efficiency or related CO2 emissions are becoming increasingly important. Therefore, we need to accelerate our preparations for the transition to these programs in accordance with compliance laws and customer expectations.
Importance of the project in Tackling Global Challenges:The European Green Deal is a new development strategy aimed at transforming the EU by 2050 into a fair and prosperous society with no net greenhouse gas emissions and a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. While protecting and developing the EU's natural capital, it also aims to protect the health and well-being of its citizens against environmental risks and impacts, for which the following objectives have been set:
- To provide clean, accessible and safe energy,
- Prompting industry for a clean and circular economy (an energy and resource efficient way to build and renovate, farm to fork: designing a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system)
- Zero pollution target for a toxin-free environment
- Accelerating the transition to sustainable and smart mobility
- Protecting ecosystems and biodiversity
Scientific/Social/Economic Innovative Contribution: The project promises to provide the optimization of material behavior and performance needed to significantly improve insulation capacity, energy performance, durability, maintenance cost and energy systems by using sustainable materials to achieve nZEB targets with the pilot lines to be installed. The application of a wide variety of nano-enabled materials (insulating to thermal storage properties) will enable a customizable element design for each building architectural style, optimizing and modernizing their efficiencies while enriching it with powerful, renewable energy generation properties, increasing its economic and aesthetic value, maintaining optimum operating parameters. Developing digital solutions for the analysis and planning of construction and renovation solutions will be the innovative aspect of the project.
Principal Investigator
Research Associates
Funding
