Zero Emission Buildings
In collaboration with a whole host of partners, the ZEB-project is figuring out how to make our homes greener.
The Løvåshagen housing project, low energy homes outside of Bergen. Developed by Bybo, one of ZET's partners (Photo: Lovashagen.no)
In February 2009, the Research Council of Norway assigned The Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to host the Research Centre on Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB), which is one of eight new national Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME).
Several of the R&D environments in ZEB are in the forefront of international research within their fields. The Centre’s combined expertise within material science, building technology, renewable energy, architecture and social sciences represent a real competitive edge. With the ZEB research centre, encompassing the R&D environment and the building industry, Norway is a central player in the very important future international arena of sustainable energy use.
In total, the companies represented in the ZEB consortium account for an annual turnover of over NOK 200 billion and have more than 100,000 employees. ZEB is a historic initiative within the construction industry and a unique endeavour internationally. Over 40 % of all greenhouse gas emissions in Europe are from the construction industry, and according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this industry is where emissions-reducing measures are most profitable. The development of zero emission buildings is therefore a vital environmental measure.
The centre will collaborate on relevant activities with the following prominent international researchinstitutions:
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland,
- Chalmers (Sweden)
- Fraunhofer (Germany)
- Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research – TNO
- University of Strathclyde (Scotland)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA )
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA )
- Tsinghua University (China)
Further reading
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