Functional and advanced insulating and energy harvesting/storage materials across climate adaptive building envelopes
Buildings account for around 40% of total energy use and 36% of CO2 emissions in Europe  . According to the recast Directive on the energy performance of buildings (EPBD)   all new buildings after 2020 should reach nearly zero energy levels, meaning that they should demonstrate very low energy needs mainly covered by renewable energy sources. EU 2030 targets aim at least 40% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions (from 1990 levels), at least 32% share for renewable energy, at least 32.5% improvement in energy efficiency , and 80% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 . Therefore, an urgent need is present for a deep market transformation by deploying efficient materials and technologies in the construction sector to support the real implementation of nearly zero-energy/emission and plus-energy buildings with high indoor environment quality across Europe. As energy consumption of buildings depend strongly on the climate and the local weather conditions, additional aspects arise (such as environmental, technical, user experience, functional and design aspects) on the selection of the appropriate material and technical components installation for a successful implementation of nZEBs. Further, this selection of materials and design for climate should be based on a circular economy perspective considering environmental, economic and social effects along value chains. Better utilisation of products and resources via reuse-repair-recycling is essential in achieving a transformation from a linear to a circular economy model. Many of the current materials and technical systems still have varying degree of difficulty in accomplishing a circular perspective. Material and technical system development in a ZEB framework should focus on building thermal performance improvement, high quality of indoor environment according to occupants’ comfort and health needs, while reducing the emission intensity in terms of production, maintenance, assembling and operation.