Upscaling deep renovation of residential buildings using socio-technical approaches

Descripción del proyecto

Tecnología de fitorremediación basada en microalgas para generar bioproductos

El nivel de CO2 en la atmósfera ha aumentado desde la época preindustrial, principalmente debido a las emisiones de las instalaciones. El vertido de aguas residuales contamina las fuentes de agua y perjudica la biodiversidad. En respuesta, las empresas manufactureras se ven presionadas para reducir las emisiones de CO2 y optimizar el uso de la energía. El equipo del proyecto ALGBIO, financiado con fondos europeos, pretende ofrecer un servicio de modelo de economía circular a las industrias proponiendo su tecnología de fitorremediación para producir biocombustibles y bioplásticos a partir de algas. Dicha tecnología utiliza microalgas para eliminar los contaminantes de las aguas residuales y, a su vez, capturar CO2. La solución ALGBIO alejará poco a poco a las industrias de una economía basada en el petróleo, proporcionando alternativas sostenibles.

Objetivo

The current approach to renovation is falling short to meet the decarbonisation goals set for the EU building stock by 2050. Building renovation is as a complex technical process wherein occupants are a source of uncertainty and not well integrated in the process from the beginning. This leads to performance gap in design, segregated production and construction processes, inadequate social benefits and lack of integration, and weak technological success in practice. Renovation is not approached by the construction industry with socio-technical considerations, which remain unexplored and thus important to investigate for increasing deep renovation performance giving a long-term purpose and value to its end-users.
The proposed research investigates the relationships of social aspects such as user behaviour, end-use, living, and socio-spatial characteristics with deep renovation measures (technologies and building systems) and processes (design, planning and construction). The role of socio-technical approaches will be evaluated in deep renovation using existing theories, co-creation methods and quantification techniques.

The overarching research objectives are to:
• investigate the capabilities and limitations of socio-technical interactions in deep-renovation
• formulate a socio-technical framework for enhancing occupant interaction
• validate the developed framework using socially driven scenarios

The project will involve mixed-method research towards holistic deep renovation and develop a socio-technical framework with KPIs to be used in decision-making by industry stakeholders. It will focus on the aspects of co-creation, greater outreach and dissemination in practice to push to deep renovation in the EU.
This project will be completed in a leading multi-disciplinary research group and draw on applicant’s experiences and competencies in (i) energy efficiency and renovation, (ii) stakeholder engagement, and (iii) practice and education in architecture.