Project

Artificial intelligence, digitalisation, and digital twin technologies have led to many recent advancements. But many more developments are waiting to be discovered and implemented in various sectors. The EU-funded SmartWins project (“Boosting Research for a Smart and Carbon Neutral Built Environment with Digital Twins”) aims to assist the KTU university’s Sustainable Energy in the Built Environment research group. Relying on research and cooperation with leading energy companies and universities, the project aims to discover novel ways to high-quality research on the topic of next generation digital twins, applied for allowing the transition to a smart, sustainable, resilient and carbon neutral built environment. It will result in improving the research excellence of the university.

The main objective of BUILD2050 is to help improve the construction, renovation, and operation of sustainable buildings with the highest standards of indoor comfort at the European level through the development of integrated and international training.

The main objective of the project is to define and validate circular and regenerative economy experiments for a large number of households, identifying a sustainable and replicable business model on a large scale (starting from a sample of 100 apartments up to 10,000). The project aims to: i) define and implement a profound behavioural and market change for a large number of households; ii) innovate the mix of circular furniture and appliances, within a business model that acts as a catalyst for the entire market; iii) offer an innovative service to tenants that includes the rental of all fully circular appliances and furniture (in Italy there are no furnished apartments for rent); iv) redesign economic systems around these products, avoiding waste generation and promoting behaviours that embrace circularity (throughout all product life cycles). The project involves defining an innovative business model and the role of stakeholders at each stage of the product life cycle.

The project aims to develop Product Category Rules (PCRs) to enable the implementation and communication of Life Cycle Assessment studies. The PCRs developed will be published within the Made Green in Italy scheme, promoted by the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential for spreading efficient district heating throughout the country, taking into account new generation systems, with the possibility of serving high energy performance buildings with low temperature heat sources. The study mainly focuses on the technical potential for diffusion. As a result of this, various assessments of economic potential will be carried out according to different incentive levels.

The aim of the project is to support, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), the Tunisian government in achieving the objectives of its national energy strategy through modern district energy systems. With the support of the National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME), the initiative is intended to provide technical assistance and strengthen the transfer of legal, technical, and financial know-how to the local government. The activities include supporting the development of an enabling regulatory framework, assessing the national potential, and evaluating the feasibility of a pilot project.

The aims of the project are: to provide insight into the technologies for industrial waste heat recovery in district heating networks, from a technical and economic point of view; to develop and apply methodologies and tools conceived to estimate the potential diffusion of district heating.

The project Milan Zero Carbon Fund (MZCF) aimed to define an innovative financial instrument for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the city of Milan through the implementation of urban renovation projects and in particular de-carbonization of the real estate sector. The project involves the development of a feasibility study analyzing: i) the governance of the fund, ii) the calculation methodology for assessing the potential impacts on climate change (CO2e emissions) linked to the construction of new buildings iii) identification of potential emissions compensation solutions to be implemented within the Municipality of Milan.

The main objective of the project is to define and validate circular and regenerative economy experiments for a large number of households, identifying a sustainable and replicable business model on a large scale (starting from a sample of 100 apartments up to 10,000). The project aims to: i) define and implement a profound behavioural and market change for a large number of households; ii) innovate the mix of circular furniture and appliances, within a business model that acts as a catalyst for the entire market; iii) offer an innovative service to tenants that includes the rental of all fully circular appliances and furniture (in Italy there are no furnished apartments for rent); iv) redesign economic systems around these products, avoiding waste generation and promoting behaviours that embrace circularity (throughout all product life cycles). The project involves defining an innovative business model and the role of stakeholders at each stage of the product life cycle.

The aim of SDHplus is to foster the changeover of district heating to solar energy by the integration of solar thermal into DH systems through the analysis of case studies.

Support activities to the District Heating and Cooling Department of ARERA about the identification of the technical parameters necessary to characterize the service of supply thermal/cooling energy in order to define the technical quality of it.

The project aims to demonstrate a new city model based on the concept of “intelligent urban ecosystems”. The innovative approach is tested in the residential complex called Redo Milano (Rogoredo / Santa Giulia), designed to become a laboratory-district to co-develop, test and implement innovative actions and practices of urban sustainability on a local scale to reduce gas emissions greenhouse and environmental impacts and together, strengthen social inclusion.
The intervention involves the construction of approximately 800 apartments, of which 615 dedicated to social housing which will be developed by REDO SGR S.p.A. – Benefit Company,
a third part of the project. As part of the project, an integrated series of measures will be co-designed, implemented and monitored in the following thematic strands:
– Clean energy
– Sustainable mobility
– Circular economy
The best practices tested in the context of Merezzate will be used to define guidelines on the potential transferability and replicability of the model in other contexts, regarding other areas of Milan and other European cities. a laboratory for the integration of clean energy, sustainable mobility and circular economy.

The ECOTEST project is funded by CEN as part of activities aimed at revising certification standards for space heating appliances and water heaters, with particular reference to products covered by the Energy Labelling and Ecodesign Regulations (EU) No. 811/2013, 812/2013, 813/2013 and 814/2013. The project involves the main European laboratories, including Relab, and includes co-normative work aimed at verifying the applicability, reproducibility and repeatability of product testing procedures. In particular, Round Robin Tests will be carried out, i.e. comparison tests conducted by different laboratories on the same product units, with the aim of identifying any need to modify the test procedures and proposing the consequent amendments to the standards.

The project aims to encourage the penetration of renewable energy sources into the Egyptian national energy mix, in order to create an internal market for low-emission technologies, which can also be accessed by companies in the Italian system operating in this sector.
Realized in collaboration with the Environment Program of the United Nations (UN Environment) and the Egyptian Ministry of Housing foresees the realization of the following activities:
1) Energy analysis and state of the art of technologies: the purpose of this component is to provide a detailed reference framework on energy issues, also in terms of potential and future developments of low emission technologies.
2) Promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency in buildings in order to encourage the diffusion and use of solar thermal energy and the reduction of energy consumption for cooling in buildings (both public and private), the definition of regulatory tools, legislative and technical-financial measures accompanied by capacity building, training and the construction of a “demonstration” building.
3) Creation of a financing mechanism for the promotion of renewable technologies and efficiency in the residential sector (public and private): the creation of financing mechanisms for the promotion of renewable technologies and efficiency in the residential sector (public and private).

The LIFE The Tough Get Going project (LIFE TTGG) aims to improve the efficiency of the entire life cycle of European Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheeses (from cradle to grave) by designing and developing software to calculate and reduce the product environmental footprint. The software will be calibrated, validated and tested on companies in the Grana Padano and Comté cheese supply chains.

The purpose of the project is to support, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), the city of Marrakech in achieving the objectives of the national energy strategy through the implementation of a modern district energy system. The initiative aims to provide technical assistance and strengthen the transfer of technical, legal and financial know-how to the local government. The main activity, with the support of the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency (AMEE), consists of a feasibility analysis of a district heating system from a technical, economic and regulatory perspective.

The “Label Pack A+” project aimed to support the implementation of energy labelling for heating appliances while increasing its impact, with a focus on the “package” label and its potential to encourage the uptake of renewable technologies, particularly solar thermal, in combination with more efficient conventional technologies.

The i-GAP project aims to develop a gas heat pump suitable for the residential market, with compact dimensions, suitable for high-volume production and easily integrated into the building and heating system. To this end, the i-GAP project carries out several activities aimed at: (1) developing and industrialising the components of the gas heat pump; (2) developing systems for integrating the heat pump with the heating system; (3) developing a user-friendly control system; (4) demonstrating the benefits of the technology through testing in pilot cases; (5) estimating the potential impact of the gas heat pump for the end user and at national energy system level.

Heat4Cool proposes innovative, efficient and cost-effective solutions that support EU energy efficiency policies through the optimal integration of heating and cooling systems in relevant buildings using renewable energy sources. The project develops, integrates and demonstrates easy-to-install, highly efficient and high-performance solutions for building renovation. The process starts with the advanced Heat4Cool decision-making tool, which addresses the characteristics of the building and the district, and leads to the optimal solution. Heat4Cool will implement four building renovation projects in four different European climates, with the aim of achieving a 20%-30% reduction in energy consumption in a technically, socially and economically feasible manner, and is expected to demonstrate a return on investment of less than ten years.

The Product Environmental Footprint Milk Tool_01 (PMT_01) aims to develop a tool for the assessment of the environmental impact of different dairy products (Protected Designation of Origin cheeses of Lombardy Region and High Quality Fresh Pasteurized Milk) in a cradle-to-distribution centre gate approach. The tool provides energy efficiency solutions for dairy companies partner of the project.

In collaboration with A2A and the Lombardy Region. Mapping and evaluation of the potential heat recovery from industrial processes that go through the possible future 25 km connection between the Cassano d’Adda cogeneration plant and the Milan district heating systems managed by the A2A company.

Med Desire, co-financed by the EC (under the MED ENPI-CBC programme), aims to introduce financial mechanisms and legal ordinances to promote solar technologies in Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia. The Relab group supported the Italian Ministry of the Environment (project partner) in carrying out activities related to the definition of solar ordinances and, in particular, in identifying the final users benefiting from solar technologies, developing the technical and regulatory aspects, and preparing the framework for the implementation of the ordinance (training, awareness-raising, etc.).

The SmartReFlex project aims at increasing the diffusion of smart and flexible district heating and cooling (DHC) systems, basing on high shares of renewable energy sources (RES), in European cities through capacity building and case study analysis.

HEAT4U was an industry-led project whose main objective was to develop a Gas Adsorption Heat Pump (GAHP) solution to enable the cost-effective use of renewable energy in existing residential buildings for heating and DHW services. The project was designed to overcome a number of technological and non-technological barriers that currently prevent the application of GAHP technology in single-family homes or small multi-storey buildings. The main objectives of HEAT4U are (1) the development of appliances with specifications suitable for the residential market (2) their integration into existing heating and DHW systems (3) the development of a decision support system, enabling optimal design under different building operating conditions (4) dissemination activities to promote awareness of the benefits of GAHP technology (5) the demonstration of the technology in 5 real-life cases.

The general objective of the CUBIS project was to identify the best way to integrate a solar thermal system with a biomass boiler to provide heat to an ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) engine for electricity generation and an absorption chiller for cooling production. The project involved the construction of a pilot plant consisting of a 150 kW biomass boiler, a 100 kWth solar thermal system and an appropriate heat storage system.

Prosol Industrie aimed at evaluating feasibility of solar thermal technologies in industrial processes. Six industrial facilities were analysed (textile and food and beverage sector) and the cost-benefit of installing solar thermal systems was evaluated. It is expected that based on economic results a proposal for an innovative subsidy mechanism will be developed and proposed to the Tunisian government.

The project aimed to develop highly integrated solar heating and cooling systems for small and medium capacity applications which are easily installed and economically and socially sustainable. The envisioned applications were residential houses, small office buildings and hotels. The goal was to use the excess solar heat in summer to power a thermally driven cooling process in order to provide cooling for air-conditioning.

The main objective of the project was to examine, through research activities and the operation of demonstration plants, the technical and financial feasibility of heating and cooling systems with a high solar fraction. The combination of heat pumps with solar thermal systems has been of great interest to various research groups (e.g. in several IEA tasks) and has already been successfully introduced to the market. In such a complex combination, which also included solar cooling, various design, optimisation and control issues arise.

The SOLAIR project promoted the market implementation of small and medium-sized solar air-conditioning appliances with a focus on the residential as well as commercial sector and the combination of domestic hot water supply and space heating with air-conditioning. SOLAIR intends to resolve major market obstacles – such as the lack of awareness, know-how and coherent information – through market surveys, capacity building, qualification and promotion for stakeholders and investors.

The proposed EST-network SOLNET consisted of nine university research groups from seven different European countries and several commercial enterprises, working in the fields of civil, mechanical, and environmental engineering, as well as architecture and chemistry. Ten PhD projects were carried out in the framework of SOLNET. The common scope of the research activities was to lay the foundations for a new generation of solar heating and cooling systems with a high solar fraction.

Key goal of the proposed project is to support the development of a new market for polygeneration: small and medium capacity trigeneration. The operating time of a CHP system can be significantly increased by using the heat for thermally driven cooling and thereby a remarkable improvement of cost efficiency is achieved. Therefore, the proposed integrated project aims to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and reliability of small-scale combined heat, cooling and power (CHCP) units for a wide range of buildings and industrial applications. Key actors in the project are the majority of today’s manufacturers of thermally driven cooling machines in Europe and manufacturers of CHP systems.
Furthermore the consortium includes utilities, engineering consultants, energy agencies, end-users and research institutions. 8 demonstration sub-projects using different thermally driven cooling technologies at 13 sites in 8 European countries for a wide spectrum of applications will be carried out as a main activity.

The project, co-financed by the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency (AMEE) and the Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea, aims to design and install solar water heaters for the Casablanca hospital. The role of the Relab group was to estimate the energy demand, pre-size all systems, and support AMEE in the preparation and definition of the technical specifications for the tender for the procurement of solar water heaters. In addition, an innovative solar cooling system was installed and monitored at the AMEE headquarters in Marrakech.