Get Sust! Issue 38

European funding for construction research projects

There’s research funding out there and it might one day have your name on it, but first you have to negotiate some tricky acronyms!

The E2B JTI aims to ‘deliver, implement and optimise building and district concepts that have the technical, economic and societal potential to drastically cut the energy consumption and reduce carbon dioxide emissions due to existing and new buildings on a European scale’.

E2B stands for ‘energy efficient buildings’, and JTI is Euro-speak for ‘an industry-led public-private partnership’ which is equally funded and governed by industry and the European Commission and, in some cases, by EU Member States.

If you’re still following all this, the real news is that the E2B JTI plans to finance large-scale research programs in areas such as nano-science, materials, energy efficiency, integration of renewable energy systems, indoor environment, storage technologies, building energy management systems, guidelines and methodologies for the design of energy-efficient buildings, and reliable simulation and prediction tools.

Don’t start signing cheques yet, though. At this stage the E2B JTI needs a substantial, long-term industry commitment, and so far they’re still working on that. The intention is that the E2B JTI will be adopted by the European Council and the Parliament in 2009, and that’s when projects can start applying for funding.

Why are we reporting this now? Well, it will probably take a good few months to figure out who or what this is all about… but it does sound like there’ll be some money in it for research somewhere along the line!

Learn more:

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Visit the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) website (www.ectp.org) or contact the UK National Platform for the Built Environment (020 7592 1100).