T. Karlessi, M. Santamouris, T. Kuhn
Year:
2013
Bibliographic info:
Proceedings of the 34th AIVC - 3rd TightVent - 2nd Cool Roofs' - 1st venticool Conference , 25-26 September, Athens 2013

In 2009 the regulatory framework and the business environment for the construction sector has changed significantly in order to reduce the CO2-emissions of existing and new buildings. New buildings have to be net-zero after 2020, some public buildings already after 2018. Several national Governments try to achieve a net-zero primary energy balance for the complete building stock until 2050 which is truly a grand challenge. In order to reach these goals two things have to be done: 

  • increase the efficiency, especially in case of existing buildings
  • cover the remaining energy demand with renewable sources.

The two most challenging aspects resulting from these goals are:

  •  the number of buildings which have to renovated is really huge, which means that a lot of investments have to be done and which also means that much more labour for construction works is needed than currently available. 
  • in many cases, current processes and building components are not ready for a widespread and cost-effective implementation of energy-harvesting functionalities in the building skin. 

Therefore a fundamental transformation of the construction sector is necessary in order to streamline the fragmented responsibilities and to develop business models which are attractive for third-party financing.  
The main objective of the EU Cost Effective project is to convert facades of existing high-rise buildings into multifunctional, energy gaining components. This target includes new façade components, business models, technical concepts and the demonstration in two pilot buildings.