CEPA-Connect

Starting point / motivation

The EU has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The building sector plays a crucial role in achieving these climate targets, as it accounts for 36% of GHG emissions. In particular, the existing building stock needs to be modernized, as 85-95% of it will still be in place by 2050.

Three-quarters of this stock are energy inefficient and must undergo extensive energy retrofitting and decarbonization over the next 20 years to achieve Austria's climate neutrality by 2040. This requires increasing the renovation rate to 3%, along with a simultaneous transition to renewable heating/cooling.

Contents and goals

Against this backdrop, the CEPA-Connect project aims not only to further develop the CEPA facade system as a resource-efficient and largely climate-neutral renovation measure, but also to explore and demonstrate innovative approaches for the application of adaptive building envelopes. Using a typical multi-story building as a case study, the transformation of an existing building into a climate-resilient, active component in the environmental and energy sector will be conceptualized and evaluated based on construction, building physics, energy, as well as legal and social aspects.

Methods

The methodological approach consists of five steps:

1. Investigation of the circularity and further development of the CEPA system for resource reduction,
2. Energetic and economic optimization of the building using simulations,
3. Development of adaptive management strategies in the application of the CEPA system,
4. Creation of a digital twin for analysis and optimization, and
5. Practical testing with a real-life demonstrator building.

Expected results

Through the collaboration of five partners with different areas of expertise, the following outcomes are expected:

Further development of the CEPA system into a prefabricated and modular all-in-one solution for minimally invasive, serial renovation and conditioning of multi-story buildings from the outside.
Development of technical solutions to enhance the efficiency of heat/cool transfer from the active layers to the existing walls, which can be integrated into the installation process of the prefabricated facades.

Promotion of sustainability in the CEPA system on multiple levels:

1. advancing the CEPA system into a circular system,
2. holistic material assessment (i. use of secondary raw materials, ii. renewable raw materials, iii. regionality) and promotion of sufficiency (reduction of resource use) in line with sustainability,
3. development of concepts for integrating renewable energy production into the facade system, adopting a perspective that considers the end-of-life stage (deconstruction) to conserve resources and maintain value.

The pursued approach of adaptive management strategies for exterior walls as thermal heat/cool storage aims to enable 

1. market-friendly behaviour (load shifting during PV production, wind production, or low electricity prices on the market),
2. grid-friendly behaviour for electrical and thermal networks (peak load reduction), and
3. new business models (flexibility markets, storage pooling of multiple buildings).

Project management

AEE INTEC

Project or cooperation partners

• Rottenmanner Siedlungsgenossenschaft
• Towern 3000
• TB Hofer
• Beyond Carbon Energy (BCE)

Florine Leighton
Feldgasse 19
A-8200 Gleisdorf
Tel.: +43 (0)3112 5886-267
E-mail: F.leighton@aee.at
Web: www.aee-intec.at