Modern construction materials & environment quality of buildings

Water, wind, light and mechanical effects do notonly play a role in complex engineered constructionsystems, but can also be basis for thedevelopment of construction products itself.Two examples will show how phenomenumsfound in nature have been translated into technicalapplications for coatings.Recent decades have been a very interestingand challenging period for the constructionmarket. The use of High-Tech production facilitiesand powerful computer systems, significantdevelopments in the chemical industry includingproduction of new materials with amazing abilities,and the speed with which information canbe distributed throughout the globe, havechanged the pace in the development and implementationof new systems, methods and materials.The most important issues discussedconcerning a better behavior of buildings, haveto be the improvement of energy performanceand the assurance of indoor air quality usingemissions free or even active- functional materials.Important recent developments in this areacan be summarized in the use of improvedthermal insulation systems and materials, theuse of active transparent insulation materialswhich can contribute energy gains during thecold period of the year, new totally emissionsfree coatings and active coatings that will contributeto the overall improvement of the airquality in buildings. The scientific and constructioncommunity nowadays have a new task, toimplement recent environmental and userfriendly solutions in the building sector, undothe consequences of the mistakes of the past andcontribute to a safer future for the planet and itsinhabitants (Elfors, 2006).