The clock is ticking and time is running out for the human race to put the brakes on the acceleration of greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union is currently responsible for 11% of global emissions. While this figure is falling, the European Commission has called for bold efforts to further reduce them by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and by a staggering 80% by 2050. A major contributor to emissions is the
energy inefficiency of homes, offices and community spaces. We spend an estimated 90% of our time inside such buildings and, if Europe is to meet these ambitious targets, the building industry needs to start thinking about smart solutions to the problem. Connie Hedegaard, the first EU Commissioner
for Climate Action, says:
“The more factories, buildings and power plants we build without making the necessary improvements, the longer we will lock Europe onto a path of unsustainable growth. By turning onto a low carbon path now, we can reap the benefits of green growth.” One EU-funded research project that aims
to tackle the thorny issue of energy waste inside our buildings is clear-up. This multi- disciplinary, multi-faceted research project
aims to reduce energy use in both new and existing buildings using environmentally- sound components, thus creating sustainable solutions. Clear-up have identified that daylight, air quality and temperature are our primary needs for a comfortable environment and the project has set out to develop new technologies to improve conditions inside while helping the environment outside.
A fresh approach Luk Vandaele is based at the Belgian Building Research Institute. He is responsible for its research groups on energy and indoor climate in buildings and he oversees the relationship with clear-up and the building community. “A number of new applications were developed to control the indoor environment issues in buildings,” Luk explains. “The idea was also to invest these new technologies, mostly nano technologies, in a holistic approach to improve the environment in buildings and at the same time to reduce energy consumption.”
new techniques have been used to control the VOC (volatile organic compounds) content of indoor air,” says Luk. “This is nano technology based but the knowledge is then applied to algorithms to control the ventilation system in buildings so that the ventilation rate can be adapted according to the real content of harmful substances in the air.” Alongside improvements in air quality,
clear-up have considered levels of natural daylight in the home and working environments. The team have developed a sensor network
that controls daylight
admissions: the resulting technology, switchable windows, allows users to change the transparency of a window by simply flicking a switch. Turning their attention to the ever-
pressing issue of building insulation, clear-up considered the size and performance
of less insulation to produce
weber.therm LockPlate, which, they say, “requires
than 10cm thickness to
realise a U-value of 0.15 W/m²K, whereas most traditional insulation materials
“The more factories, buildings and power plants we build without making the necessary
improvements, the longer we will lock Europe onto a path of unsustainable growth”
Clear-up have worked on a myriad of
ground-breaking technologies to achieve their three-fold objective of improving air quality, light and temperature in future and existing buildings. To improve air quality the team have been developing photocatalytic materials. Photocatalysis is a natural phenomenon similar to photosynthesis in which a substance uses natural light to produce a chemical reaction that degrades and eliminates noxious air pollutants. The technology is already being used in the road sector and on the outside of buildings to reduce the effects of pollution. “Photocatalytic materials are added to the surfaces inside buildings by a special paint, for instance,” explains Luk. “The aim is to decompose harmful substances such as formaldehyde, which can be toxic, into unharmful components.” The clear-up team have been working on additional technology to improve ventilation. “A number of advances have been made in the development of sensor technology where
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would require 30 cm or more”. Crucially, this insulation can be retrofitted, which will maximise the results of energy efficiency buildings.
on poorly-insulated older
A testing environment While some of the clear-up technologies are ready to roll out, others are still in a stage of development. Luk reports that clear-up’s system for ‘collecting sunlight’ and transporting it through optic fibres to darker areas of a building suffered a setback after being tested during storm conditions. “It’s very promising but in practise proved not to be market ready,” he says. “The aim of clear-up is to bring additional arguments to convince the market place of the opportunity,” he continues. “But there’s still some way to go, so this work is not finished.” The process of testing clear-up
technologies has been diverse. Starting in the laboratory with models, the team have
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