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In 2009 the regulatory framework and the business environment for the construction sector has changed significantly in order to reduce the CO2-emissions of existing and new buildings. New buildings have to be net-zero after 2020, some public buildings already after 2018. Several national Governments try to achieve a net-zero primary energy balance for the complete building stock until 2050 which is truly a grand challenge. In order to reach these goals two things have to be done:
- increase the efficiency, especially in case of existing buildings
- cover the remaining energy demand with renewable sources.
The two most challenging aspects resulting from these goals are:
- the number of buildings which have to renovated is really huge, which means that a lot of investments have to be done and which also means that much more labour for construction works is needed than currently available.
- in many cases, current processes and building components are not ready for a widespread and cost-effective implementation of energy-harvesting functionalities in the building skin.
Therefore a fundamental transformation of the construction sector is necessary in order to streamline the fragmented responsibilities and to develop business models which are attractive for third-party financing.
The main objective of the EU Cost Effective project is to convert facades of existing high-rise buildings into multifunctional, energy gaining components. This target includes new façade components, business models, technical concepts and the demonstration in two pilot buildings.