The building sector has a tremendous impact on both, environment and society. In this context, Empa fulfils two major tasks:

• We are developing solutions for a sustainable building industry. Our efforts are centered around eco-friendly solutions with a vision of buildings which are completely independent from fossil fuels.
  
  
• We are supporting the building industry with sustainable technical innovations for a more efficient use of energy and improved fire-safety.
  
  

Our research focus is on trend-setting building technologies which can contribute substantially to the implementation of a 2000-Watt-Society. Besides energy efficiency, ecologic and economic efficiency, safety, health and comfort are important prerequisites for the end-user. We are combining materials technology and system integration aspects and implement these into practical solutions. Our main focus is on research and development, but we also offer testing and consulting services for the building industry as well as for public agencies. We are a member of the National Centre of Competence for Building Technologies and Renewable Energies brenet.

Advanced Building Materials and Technologies

Minimization and control of heat losses is still the most prominent energy conservation strategy. We are conducting research in collaboration with various R&D-partners with a primary focus on advanced insulation materials and systems that achieve performance which exceeds conventional technologies by a factor of 2 to 5. Current projects include vacuum insulation panels (VIP’s), nano-porous insulation materials such as aerogels, and vacuum insulation glazings (VIG) for improved window systems. All these technologies have a great application potential both for new buildings and in building retrofit.

Innovative Building Systems

From a building systems perspective, Empa Building Technologies is investigating concepts and solutions for the 2000-Watt-Society. Among the main issues are future-oriented systems for heating, heat storage, cooling and the combined generation of heat and power. All of these systems should allow the operation of buildings nearly independently from fossil fuels. Substantial development work is ongoing within EU- research programmes and projects of the International Energy Agency IEA. Special attention is paid to climate change issues, an aspect which will pose a great challenge to the building sector in the future.

Fire Safety

In the area of preventive fire protection we are dealing with fire safe construction, building components and materials. The laboratory for fire experiments is well-equipped and can combine results from fire-testing experiments with thermo-mechanical simulations. Various developments are presently ongoing with a growing number of international R&D-projects in this field of research.

We offer services fort he building industry, SME’s, professional associations and public agencies. The focus is on complex investigations in the areas of our R&D activities. They are (testing and simulation):

• Physical characterisation of building materials and constructions (heat and moisture transfer)
  
  
• Determination of thermal and solar properties of glazed façades, windows and shading devices
  
  
• Investigation and testing of fire resistance of building components (doors, fire barriers a.s.o.)
  
  

Head of Building Technologies Lab (since 1.6.08)
Prof. Dr. Jan Carmeliet
Empa Building Technologies Lab / ETHZ Chair of Building Physics

Contact: Mark Zimmermann
Empa, Building Technologies
Ueberlandstrasse 129
CH-8600 Duebendorf
T +41 44 823 55 11 (switchboard)
F +41 44 823 40 09
Mark.zimmermann@empa.ch

Building Technologies