Heli Koukkari

Review on the European Strategies for Energy-Efficient Buildings

Reduction of the energy consumption in the building stock is an essential part of the sustainability strategies of the European Union on economy, environment and Climate Change. Operation and use of the residential and tertiary sector buildings are responsible for roughly 40% of the total final energy consumed in its Member States. This demand is supplied mainly from the imported fossil fuels. Energy-efficiency of buildings has grown to one of the main mechanisms in pursuits to alter the negative trends of growing consumption that would lead to an increase of the import dependence and increase of greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, the European policy has shown signs of success but the targets seem to have been set as too ambitious. A review on the energy-efficiency strategies is presented in this paper in order to propose an explanation for the delay. It has been identified as insufficient links between statistics on the energy supply and the energy demand in various parts of the existing building...

Phase Changing Materials in Buildings

New technologies are needed in structures and services in order to reduce the great energy consumption of buildings. A major share of the energy demand is used for controlling the indoor climate. The requirements are only growing due to tightening regulation and increasing comfort expectations of the users. The wide use of air conditioning systems illustrates this trend. Phase Changing Materials (PCM) open an alternative potential to return a part of cooling needs based upon melting and solidifying properties of some special components within a room temperature range. Thanks to this phenomenon, some degrees of additional control can be achieved. Experimental results from laboratory tests and monitoring results in two rooms of two actual buildings presented in this paper show that gypsum plaster finishings with a thin layer of 5 mm of PCM are favourable to achieve 2 to 5°C reduction in the temperature swing in rooms.

Transformation of a research centre toward an innovation partner in the construction sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study innovation processes of the construction sector from the viewpoints of research‐based consultation at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.Design/methodology/approach – The starting point of an internal analysis and benchmarking concerning the role of a research centre come from a Finnish product manufacturer that challenged its capacity to a short introduction lead‐time. Understanding as an opportunity, a core team is set up representing different expertises, and a co‐operation project is proposed to the manufacturer. In addition, an in‐house follow‐up project is created. After completing successfully the product development project, and based upon findings of the follow‐up project, a feasibility study is conducted concerning consultation packages for development of construction products and concepts. However, during this study phase, the objective of packages is replaced by an ideal of a collaborative process that integrates competencies, tools, and ma...