A new multimillion euro research project which will demonstrate how buildings can be renovated to use ‘near zero energy’ has launched at Brunel University London.
Featuring 17 partners from nine European countries and funded by Horizon 2020, the €8.4m project brings together academia and industry to develop a ‘Retrofit Kit’ that can be used to reduce energy consumption by 60-95% in renovated buildings.
The Retrofit Kit will bring together a number of advanced, cost efficient, and energy saving technologies – including smart windows with pre-heating and cooling technology, ventilation heat recovery, photovoltaic panels, and nature-based technologies – which can be fitted 30% quicker than typical renovations. It’s hoped that implementation of the technologies would have a payback period of under 15 years.
Four demonstration sites will be created as part of the project, including one at Brunel, which will offer practical, real-world examples of ‘Near Zero Energy Buildings’ or ‘nZEBs’ retrofit.
Located in the UK, Denmark, Switzerland and Spain, the sites will demonstrate the Retrofit Kit’s effectiveness in different climates, and using different construction methods. Work on the retrofit buildings will begin in summer 2019.
Brunel’s Dr Harjit Singh will lead the development work by industry partners.
Professor Maria Kolokotroni, leader of Brunel’s Resource Efficient Future Cities research theme and technical manager of the project, said: “We’ve built an excellent team since this project first began to take shape back in 2016, and it’s exciting to think that by the time we finish we will have demonstrated at a number of sites across Europe that it’s possible to massively reduce the energy usage of a building, in a cost-effective way, whilst simultaneously increasing indoor environmental quality and decreasing installation time.”
The RECO2ST team at Brunel University London – University of Aalborg (project co-ordinator), Brunel University London, Tyndall National Institute-University College Cork, University of Cadiz, ESTIA SA Lausanne, va-Q-tec, Groupe E Greenwatt SA, Quantis, Alchemia Nova, Horn Vinduer, Core Innovation, Frederikshavn Boligforeningm, United Technologies Research Centre, Acciona Infrastructures SA, City Hall of Cadiz, Retraites Populaires, European Cool Roofs Council
Reported by:
Tim Pilgrim,
Media Relations
+44 (0)1895 268965
tim.pilgrim@brunel.ac.uk