GREEN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION

Green building and construction concerns several areas, from the sustainability and energy-efficiency of the materials, such as high-performance insulation or solar panels, and the use of renewable energy throughout the construction process. ‘Eco-friendly’ buildings have features that improve the quality of the environment it is located in, for example by improving the air quality with plant-covered buildings. This also supports the United Nation’s sustainability goal 11 ‘sustainable cities and communities’.

EURAMET has supported projects that wanted to improve the metrological network surrounding green building and construction, such as projects working on passive radiative cooling technologies.

Many EURAMET projects have supported metrology for green building and construction, inlcuding the ones listed below:

Metrological framework for passive radiative cooling technologies

Improvement of emissivity measurements on reflective insulation materials

Matrix reference materials for environmental analysis

Metrology for VOC indicators in air pollution and climate change

RELATED CASE STUDIES

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Accurately measuring indoor pollutants

Many manufactured products in homes and offices, such as building materials and furnishings, can emit chemical vapours which make people feel ill. EU directives require samples of these materials to be tested to ensure emissions stay within safe limits. But this process is complex, and testing labs need more sophisticated reference materials to confirm their instruments are accurately measuring the wide variety of chemical vapours that these materials can emit.

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Formaldehyde emissions monitoring

Formaldehyde, emitted from furnishing and construction materials and from the combustion of organic materials, can cause health problems. Regulations govern safe limits, and monitoring systems check these are not exceeded. Gas standards – cylinders with accurate formaldehyde amount fractions – are used to calibrate these systems, but as air quality limits become stricter, new methods are required for producing standards with lower, stable amount fractions to confirm the performance of monitoring instrumentation.

Detecting contaminants in soil

Companies building on sites contaminated by previous industrial use, must first perform soil analyses to identify pollutants. Measurement traceability is underpinned by reference materials that need to closely match real-world samples. Increasing the capability of National Metrology Institutes (NMI) in emerging EU member states to produce these materials and perform proficiency exercises is essential to harmonise SI traceability in environmental monitoring throughout Europe.

RELATED NEWS STORIES

21GRD03 iStock 487114176 Rainbow Over Residential Area Near Mudende Rwanda Central Africa

Partnership project helps improve the thermal comfort of public buildings in Rwanda and South Africa

Working with external project Cool White to test and suggest improvements on the locally available white paints.

Image showing Rooftop air system skyscraper — Rooftop air system on skyscraper in Hong Kong

EURAMET project on passive radiative cooling technologies collaborates with SPACECOOL in Japan

Developing metrological frameworks to standardise new passive cooling materials and test them under real-world conditions.

Image showing insulation material during construction of a house — Construction building of new house with insulation

EMPIR project improves emissivity measurements

Research helps to ensure more reliable measurements for thermal insulation

Image showing Scientist analysing the water of a river — Scientist analysing the water of a river

EMPIR Capacity Building project enables analysis of environmental materials

Joint research project extends environmental pollution monitoring capabilities for water and soil to new European countries.