Across Europe and other developed regions, buildings represent the largest potential for cost-effective carbon emission reduction and with it, improvement in energy security, as well as a myriad of other benefits - fuel poverty alleviation, improved indoor and outdoor air quality, increased comfort, increased property values, energy system benefits, as well as energy bill savings. The energy efficiency building market has the largest percentage improvement in the residential building sector, for working towards a reduction of the total energy consumption by 5% to 6% (8.2GT) and lower CO2 emissions by about 5% in 2050. Further, the energy efficiency building industry is looking for better solutions addressing a number of sources of energy loss such as air leakage, wet insulation, and thermal bridging to create energy efficient building envelopes so as to reduce both the thermal energy lost to the building’s surroundings and the amount of energy needed to heat and cool the building. These needs together with stringent EU regulations pushing towards the delivery of nearly zero energy buildings (nZEBs) by 2019 and 2021 for public and private buildings, respectively, has created a business opportunity that Zorzano is meant to exploit with INSUPanel. It offers an advanced way to eliminate thermal bridges in nZEBs lowering time of execution works, all at a very competitive cost.
Our INSUPanel project will boost the commercialization of an innovative wall panel made of precast concrete for use in near zero energy buildings (nZEBs) through:
A non-structural lightweight wall panel easy to transport and install, thus, reducing construction works cost and lead-time (minimising workplace risks).
INSUPanel building solution is a 100% thermal bridge free technology that enables significant energy-savings whilst improving healthier indoor air and comfort performance in dwellings
On completion of the INSUPanel project, we will industrialize the manufacturing process of INSUPanel expecting a maximum capacity for construction of 100,000m2 units/year (ca. 50 six-flour blocks with 4 dwellings or 400 detached single-family houses of 100m2) satisfying demand from future end-users. Apart, in economic terms for the end-users, the median energy cost for households across all EU-28 members is 0.24€/kWh, and the yearly consumption for all purposes is 17,793kWh per active dwelling. This means, the yearly cost just to maintain thermal regulation inside one housing unit is 2,843€. INSUPanel built houses may bring savings close to 2,673€ annually to each housekeeper (compared to buildings of non-insulated brick walls).
We plan to market INSUPanel by mid-2018 in the Spanish market through our current sales force, and then enter other European countries like Germany, UK, France, and Italy through our international distributor partnerships.