The objective of the project is to identify the best innovative energy solutions for buildings envelope by investigating and testing the most advanced technologies, systems, materials and products aimed to maximize the building energy performance, the indoor comfort and the architectural quality.
In particular, the research project will address the latest generation of advanced materials and products for the building envelope, such as nanotechnology products and smart materials, that promise considerable potential advantages both in terms of improved performance and the development of attractive design solutions.
The project will include solutions investigation, installation and monitoring providing as application and demonstration cases, Team Sapienza SDME Solar house that will be constructed in Rome and transported to Dubai for the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 competition.
This building prototype will be used both for identifying the best envelope solutions, and to test and validate on-site their application with actual intervention in the climate of Rome and Middle East.
With its results, the project intends to provide the technical guidelines and price lists on optimized breakthrough solutions for a large-scale application of the advanced low energy technologies in order to accelerate the improvement the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings.
The final goal of the project is to provide guidance to design and realize a "Smart building envelope", not only capable of offering better performance compared to a traditional building shell, but also to fulfil new functions (power generation, light emission, image projection, air purification and self-cleaning surfaces, ability to self-repair, etc.) and to adapt its characteristics in response to changes in external conditions (from transparent to opaque, from solid to liquid, from waterproof to permeable, etc.).
Many of these technologies are already available, but diffusion across different countries is however dishomogeneous, due to their high cost and a lack of awareness of main market actors about the convenience potential of best available technologies. This is especially true for combined solutions that consider the whole system approach. Workforces training on installation and operation of integrated solutions is mandatory in order to ensure a better diffusion of these technologies.
Thus, few real building applications have been carried out and these are still too recent to compare laboratory data with real life performance, characterized by interlinked and interdependent technologies and influenced by physical attributes of the building, local climate and users' behavior. Furthermore, potential market for advanced technologies and products is undermined by the lack of price lists to use in investment cost estimations and by the uncertainty regarding availability and supply chain issues.
The innovation potential of the project consists in identifying and testing breakthrough solutions based on advanced materials and technologies, on the marker or under development, which adoption is still hampered by their novelty, lack of experimentation and high costs in order to spread application at a large scale.
The specific goals of the project are to provide technical guidelines for achieving smart zero energy buildings including an indication of which technologies to use in relation to the possible different categories of buildings and climate, in order to allow an optimal level of performance in relation to the costs. Technical guidelines will focus on optimized breakthrough solutions for large-scale application and will include price lists of the advanced low energy technologies and reports on installation issues and actual times of works also in order to ease the preparation of bills of quantities for public or private procurement according to the new law regulation (D.lgs 50/2016).