VEEP
Cost-Effective Recycling of Construction and Demolition Waste for Energy Efficient Building Retrofitting
| Business | Time | Project Coordinator | Funding Scheme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industry | Start date: 10/01/2016 End date: 09/30/2020 |
RINA Consulting S.p.A. | H2020-EEB-2016 |
Challenge
Around 400 million tons of construction and demolition waste, excluding excavation materials, are yearly generated and then mostly landfilled in EU.
On the other hand, concrete is the most widely used material in building, with a growing trend towards prefabrication.
The main objective of VEEP is therefore to develop and demonstrate a series of technological solutions for the massive retrofitting of our built environment, aiming at cost-effectively reducing building energy consumption.
Moreover, VEEP will develop the following innovative construction materials:
• A greener and more resistant Silica Aerogel, which is one of the best material for the insulation application
• A new and green concrete
• Two novel multilayer precast concrete elements (PCEs) through the smart combination of VEEP concrete, aerogel composites and 3D printed plastic sides and shuttering pieces
To achieve those goals, VEEP has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No: 723582.
Approach
RINA is the project coordinator and the communication and dissemination leader of VEEP project.
It is therefore responsible for the overall project implementation, planning, performance and financial control, quality assurance, risk management, contingency planning, and administration of the EU funding and, finally, communication and dissemination of the project’s results to potential stakeholders and to the general public.
Moreover, RINA will support the consortium in the integrated environmental and economic assessment from life cycle perspective, performing the following main activities:
- Screening LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and LCC (Life Cycle Costing) report at individual phases
- Short report on recommendations highlighting the most remarkable environmental and economic benefits from the VEEP solutions
RINA will be also active in the framework of the exploitation of the project’s results, developing a business model for the new practice and business plans for the new technologies/ processes and products in order to set strong bases for their future commercial deployment.
Conclusion
VEEP will provide the EU community with the following benefits:
- CO2 savings, energy savings (by min 20%), and higher resource efficiency (minimum share of recycled materials in final product of at least 10-15%) will ultimately contribute to a resource-efficient and climate change resilient economy
- Creation of new value chains by expanding the size and attractiveness of C&DW recycling and reuse for energy efficient buildings construction and refurbishment, properly tackling non-technological barriers
- High replication potential of the solutions obtained, with the possibility to export EU technology worldwide
- Contribution to achieving the objectives of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials, in particular to the relevant impacts shown in Action I.5 "Recycling of raw materials from products, buildings and infrastructure" of the Strategic Implementation Plan
- Contribution with viable technologies that have the potential to significantly change practices of the construction industry towards circular economy practices
- Improvement of innovation capacity of the construction sector to stimulate new growth and jobs creation
