EFFENERGY PROJECT
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Environmental problem statement
Heating and lighting of buildings accounts for the largest single share of energy use (42%, of which 70%
is for heating) and produces 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Improving the energy efficiency of
existing buildings is the most cost-effective way of meeting Kyoto climate change commitments. The
environmental problem which this project addresses is to contribute towards improvement of overall
sustainability of buildings by improving the energy efficiency of buildings.
Targeted EU legislation is primarily: Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 16 December 2002 on the energy performance of buildings, Council Directive 89/106/EEC
of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the
Member States relating to construction products and Council Directive 96/62/EC of 27 September
1996 on ambient air quality assessment and management.
Description of the objectives and the technical/methodological solution
The overall objective of the project is the development and demonstration of innovative technologies
for the improvement of the energy efficiency of existing as well as new buildings. Therefore DuPont
(Luxembourg) and its partners Polytechs (France) and Etem (Greece) envisaged the demonstration of
two new technologies:
ƒ A phase change material (PCM) that absorbs and releases heat so that a more uniform temperature is
obtained in building resulting with less need for active cooling or heating;
ƒ A reflective technology that combines low emissivity properties with breathable properties in order to
prevent interstitial condensation in the building and providing additional thermal insulation to the
building envelope.
Technology Innovation
ƒ The innovation of the thermal mass panels consists of incorporating enough phase change material
into a 5 mm thick panel that maintains its structural form independent if the phase change material is in
solid phase or in liquid phase and that the panel has a latent heat capacity equivalent to 6 to 8 cm of
concrete.
ƒ The innovation of the reflective technology is to apply a protected low emissivity surface to a vapour
open membrane, without clogging the pores of the membrane so that the vapour transmission is not
reduced and therefore continues its primary function of evacuating internal building humidity while
adding a thermal insulation performance, thanks to a low emissivity surface that reduces significantly the
heat transfer via heat radiation.
It goes without saying that both technologies are meeting the European and national building
regulations and building safety requirements.
Results and environmental benefits
The in-situ measurements for the thermal mass panels gave following results
ƒ Lower and more comfortable temperatures during spring and especially summer
o Temperature reduction: 6.7°C (summer with free cooling);
o Temperature reduction: 5.4°C (spring without free cooling);
o Night temperature increase up to 2.1°C (spring without free cooling)
ƒ Lower energy consumption for the heating
o Saving on heating: 7.6 % (winter)
These values are typically for the test building in the climate zone of Paris but can be extrapolated to
other buildings and climate zones thanks to the computer model that was developed and validated
during this project.
The in-situ measurements for the reflective technology gave following results
1. The ventilation effect on the wall cavity with a low emissivity surface has almost no negative effect
on the thermal performance.
2. The thermal performance of the wall cavities with the new metallised products has exceeded the
expected values.
3. The temperature difference of the roof set-ups with the outside reflective underlay are distinctively
larger than without the reflective underlay.
The main consequence of the above-mentioned results would be lower greenhouse emissions.
Gas oil for heating purposes produces 310g/kWh of CO2 emissions per year. A typical house consumes
150 kWh/m2/yr, which means 46.5 kg/m2 of CO2 emissions per year. So, for a 15% energy saving, there
will be an annual reduction of CO2 emissions by 7 kg/m2 yr or 0.7 tons for a 100m2 house.
The computer simulation model which was validated by in-situ measurements allows to give a energy
saving for a given project taking into account the major different parameters that influence the energy
balance of in building in a specific location. In many cases the return on investment for the projects are
below 10 years, which is also the time period that architect and builders are requesting before investing
in new building technologies.
COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
Target groups
UK, Ireland, Belgium (FR & NL), France,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Czech
Republic, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovakia
Europe
Customers
Building Services
Engineers
Environmental
Engineers
DuPont employees
Architects
Individual Housing
Developers
Past & current dissemination activities and their results
6 strategic communication channels have been targeted to promote the products: brochures & roll-ups,
PRs, articles in magazines, website & email campaigns, events & seminars and videos & animations.
Brochures & roll-up
Videos &
animations
PR
Articles in magazines
Communication
strategy
DuPont™
Energain® &
DuPont™
Climate Systems
Events/Seminars
Website, email campaigns
www.effenergy.dupont.com
www.energain.co.uk
www.energain.fr
www.construction.tyvek.com
After Life Communication activities
Primary communication ideas will by followed in the 6 main channels. As part of these channels we can
already give examples of what has already been scheduled.
ƒ Brochures & roll-ups: updates of brochures & new roll-ups development depending on country needs
& events scheduled
ƒ PRs: press articles will be written on new project where DuPont™ Energain® & DuPont™ Climate
Systems are used
ƒ Articles in magazines: articles in specialized magazines will be targeted
ƒ Website & email campaigns: content update & new project information to our target groups
ƒ Events & seminars: CPD seminars, local event & big shows (e.g. Batimat)
ƒ Videos & animations: content update & promotion
On site test activities will continue and results will be communicated in the above mentioned brochures,
articles, etc.
In many countries ecological investments are made more economical attractive by means of ecological
subsidies. Taking these into account the ROI's become even lower. DuPont will advice their clients on
the cost-benefit of the innovative products and can advice governments on implementing new
ecological subsidy programmes to promote even stronger the use of these ecological beneficial products.
The ecological benefit of the PCM material can not only be applied for building construction, though
can also be beneficially used for all circumstances where heating and cooling apply. As such for example
the idea could fruitfully be used in temporary housing, caravans, packaging, … DuPont will promote the
ecological value of the PCM material in these and potential other industries.
End of Life Project communication
DuPont Building Innovations wishes to share its experience with the Life Project. In that sense, we have
planned:
ƒ PR: an article will be written to inform about the end of the project & sum up what was the goal of
the collaboration with the EU commission
ƒ Website update: the website will be update in that sense
ƒ Internal communication:: DuPont employee will also be informed about it