Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ZERAF (ZERo-carbon building enabling Adaptive opaque Facade technology)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-02-01 bis 2024-01-31
ZERAF (ZERo-carbon building enabler Adaptive opaque Facade) is a new concept for building facades that aims to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings in the EU. Using innovative materials and dynamic thermal control systems, ZERAF transforms opaque building facades from static thermal barriers to thermal modulators. It does so by bringing together cutting-edge knowdglege from diverse fields, such as aerospace, biomedicine, nanomaterials, chemistry, and IoT, to reconceptualise the adaptive opaque facade concept. It involves high-risk/low-TRL research in an interdisciplinary environment to bring innovative solutions to the building sector.
The expected impact of the developed innovative technology is the strong reduction of heating and cooling energy demand of buildings, while minimizing the embodied carbon. If the technology is largely applied in new buildings and in retrofits, it will have a major impact on the environment and on the European economy and society in terms of (i) reducing of the operational energy consumption of buildings, thereby downsizing of electricity bills and dependence on petrol and gas; (ii) minimizing of the carbon footprint of both new and existing buildings, thus combating climate change; (iii) generating of new products for the building industry which creates new jobs, stakeholders and innovative and sustainable European industrial lines and (iv) creating New European Bauhaus compliant architectural styles. ZERAF technology can be applied to any building (new or existing) that has a significant proportion of opaque façade, thanks to the modularity and the adaptability of the technology to diverse contexts. ZERAF will also bring completely new aesthetics to the cities, offering a wide range of design options: ZERAF facade cladding can have endless geometric patterns and designers will have the freedom to use different materials, coatings and colours. These aspects are in line with the New European Bauhaus initiative. The versatility of the technology will enable its adaptation to be deployed in several climatic areas, guaranteeing a Just Energy Transition to all. In terms of new product creation, the envisaged technology brings new formulations of polyurethanes and shape memory alloys (SMA) that will boost advanced materials manufacturing in Europe. This will open new markets compatible with new industrial processes for bioPUR and SMA building actuators, creating jobs in the chemistry and materials science sectors. Moreover, it is expected that different materials will be suitable for the developed technology according to the different climates, building uses and material availability in the geographical area. This will generate a large and diversified market in Europe. New markets and jobs will also be established thanks to the novel dynamic characteristics of opaque façade technologies: the management of ZERAF will require interdisciplinary expertise in automation, thermodynamics and building physics and new business models able to exploit the co-benefits of the ZERAF technology will be needed.
The aim of the EIC-EU funded project is to scientifically prove that the ZERAF concept can significantly control all heat transfer mechanisms in opaque building facades. For the first time, prototypes will be manufactured and their thermal behaviour will be characterised in a dedicated laboratory. This characterisation will allow the validation of advanced simulation models at building and component scale. In order to demonstrate that the materials, manufacturing processes and assembly methods used do not compromise the reduction of the carbon footprint, key sustainability parameters will be quantified using a building life cycle analysis.
The expected impact of the developed innovative technology is the strong reduction of heating and cooling energy demand of buildings, while minimizing the embodied carbon. If the technology is largely applied in new buildings and in retrofits, it will have a major impact on the environment and on the European economy and society in terms of (i) reducing of the operational energy consumption of buildings, thereby downsizing of electricity bills and dependence on petrol and gas; (ii) minimizing of the carbon footprint of both new and existing buildings, thus combating climate change; (iii) generating of new products for the building industry which creates new jobs, stakeholders and innovative and sustainable European industrial lines and (iv) creating New European Bauhaus compliant architectural styles. ZERAF technology can be applied to any building (new or existing) that has a significant proportion of opaque façade, thanks to the modularity and the adaptability of the technology to diverse contexts. ZERAF will also bring completely new aesthetics to the cities, offering a wide range of design options: ZERAF facade cladding can have endless geometric patterns and designers will have the freedom to use different materials, coatings and colours. These aspects are in line with the New European Bauhaus initiative. The versatility of the technology will enable its adaptation to be deployed in several climatic areas, guaranteeing a Just Energy Transition to all. In terms of new product creation, the envisaged technology brings new formulations of polyurethanes and shape memory alloys (SMA) that will boost advanced materials manufacturing in Europe. This will open new markets compatible with new industrial processes for bioPUR and SMA building actuators, creating jobs in the chemistry and materials science sectors. Moreover, it is expected that different materials will be suitable for the developed technology according to the different climates, building uses and material availability in the geographical area. This will generate a large and diversified market in Europe. New markets and jobs will also be established thanks to the novel dynamic characteristics of opaque façade technologies: the management of ZERAF will require interdisciplinary expertise in automation, thermodynamics and building physics and new business models able to exploit the co-benefits of the ZERAF technology will be needed.
The aim of the EIC-EU funded project is to scientifically prove that the ZERAF concept can significantly control all heat transfer mechanisms in opaque building facades. For the first time, prototypes will be manufactured and their thermal behaviour will be characterised in a dedicated laboratory. This characterisation will allow the validation of advanced simulation models at building and component scale. In order to demonstrate that the materials, manufacturing processes and assembly methods used do not compromise the reduction of the carbon footprint, key sustainability parameters will be quantified using a building life cycle analysis.
The focus of the first year of the project was the conceptual definition of the ZERo-carbon building enabling Adaptive opaque Facade (ZERAF). Two main concepts were developed: one for new buildings and another one for the energy efficient retrofitting of existing facades. Possible materials, geometries and configurations of ZERAF technology concepts were mapped. This process was supported by a life cycle and preliminary cost analysis, to understand the environmental and cost implications of the mapped options. The technology concepts were then evaluated with preliminary simulations at the building and component level. According to the results, several designed variations of the technology can significantly control the heat exchange between the indoor and outdoor environment. The first components of ZERAF are already being prototyped, such as a shape memory alloy actuator and several new bio-polyurethane samples with different densities and recycled polyurethane content. To date, it has been possible to achieve 10% of recycled content in the bio-polyurethane formulation without compromising the quality and stability of the foam. In addition, the thermal performance of these bio-polyurethane samples has been tested and found to be comparable to conventional polyurethane.
The opaque building facades available on the market are completely static, while the research world is still struggling to find an effective and reliable adaptive opaque facade concept. Some of these concepts have been patented but have not been commercialised. Existing adaptive opaque façade concepts have either focused solely on developing a technology to achieve adaptive control of heat transfer, ignoring the other façade requirements, or they have followed the state-of-the-art design approach to ensure that all façade requirements are met. However, the addition of a new requirement (adaptive control of heat transfer) would be unsustainable from the outset if a common multi-layer approach was followed, as it would require additional components to operate (actuators, sensors, wiring and data post-processing elements).
Until now, the positive effect of modulating and controlling simultaneously the three types of heat transfer (radiation, convection and conduction) in the opaque part of facades has only been estimated using theoretical data and non-validated calculations. The ZERAF project is a breakthrough as it will be the first to build, test and characterise this type of opaque façade system. Such a scientific-technological breakthrough will be a major step forward for science, allowing further studies based on reliable data. It will also answer the question of the extent to which this novel technology concept eliminates the need for heating and cooling systems in certain buildings and climates. The innovative technology will radically reconceptualise adaptive opaque façades, moving from the current multi-layer façade approach to a façade system that seeks the minimum number of materials possible thanks to the integration of two low TRL key enabling materials and associated manufacturing processes: the bio-polyurethane and Shape Memory Alloy based actuators.
Until now, the positive effect of modulating and controlling simultaneously the three types of heat transfer (radiation, convection and conduction) in the opaque part of facades has only been estimated using theoretical data and non-validated calculations. The ZERAF project is a breakthrough as it will be the first to build, test and characterise this type of opaque façade system. Such a scientific-technological breakthrough will be a major step forward for science, allowing further studies based on reliable data. It will also answer the question of the extent to which this novel technology concept eliminates the need for heating and cooling systems in certain buildings and climates. The innovative technology will radically reconceptualise adaptive opaque façades, moving from the current multi-layer façade approach to a façade system that seeks the minimum number of materials possible thanks to the integration of two low TRL key enabling materials and associated manufacturing processes: the bio-polyurethane and Shape Memory Alloy based actuators.