Project description
Zero-energy buildings harnessing bio-sourced and recycled materials for the envelope
The building envelope includes the roof, doors, windows, walls, and floors – everything that separates the building’s internal environment from the external environment. As such, it is the critical interface that regulates climate control. Enhancing its performance can significantly reduce a building’s energy consumption and emissions. The ambitious EU-funded EASI ZERo project will use bio-sourced and recycled materials to enhance the thermal performance of new and existing buildings’ envelopes by 20 %. The diverse materials include grown mycelium, wood fibres, low carbon foam, recycled raw material. The team will optimise the materials combinations for maximum sustainability and minimum payback time with the help of design tools and a numerical database.
Objective
With CO2 emission at 36% and energy consumption at 40%, building sector is far from sustainability. The need for construction materials to achieve climate neutral buildings reaches 0.2 m3 per m2 of net floor in France, leading to several billions of m3 in Europe by 2050. EASI ZERo proposes a global system to cut the environmental impact by rising the thermal performance of buildings’ envelope by 20% with bio-sourced and recycled materials. This include grown mycelium, wood fibres, low carbon foam, recycled raw material for spayed renders, multifunctional building bricks, and healthy finishes. This unique portfolio of tailored components results from manufacturing and sourcing with reduced CO2 emission and embodied energy. It will demonstrate cost-efficient and easy installation in green deep renovation and also new construction operations. The re-use of components and the integration of recycled materials enhance circular economy by closing carbon cycle and raise resilience in the construction value chain. Design tools, numerical database and material passport will optimise the materials combination towards maximum sustainability and minimum payback time for any typology of buildings and conditions (climate, aesthetics, specific risk). Projects use-cases will show real buildings reaching durable high environmental performance and carbon emission over more than 40 years and neutral energy balance with integrated PV generation where relevant. A multidisciplinary consortium will support these objectives and benefit from project outcomes, as universities, technology developers, construction material producers and building engineers. Use-cases will especially consider social housing. Outcomes will positively impact i) European competitiveness with manufacturing of sustainable and clean construction materials and easy installation on any building in EU stock ii) raise resilience thanks to circular economy, eco-design and digitization of the EASI ZERo renovation system.
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HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation ActionsCoordinator
75015 PARIS 15
France