Large photovoltaic plant and housing estates surrounded by green landscape.

Climate-safe construction" special show at BAU 2023

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Sustainable and climate-resilient building products for new buildings and refurbishment

Heat records, heavy rain, storms and droughts endanger people and buildings - climate change is here, and the consequences are also affecting us in Europe. It is therefore important to protect ourselves from climate extremes. The building sector contributes significantly to climate change through fossil heating energy and CO2 emissions in the production of buildings and building products (grey energy). Future-proof building products must therefore be energy-efficient, sustainable and resilient to climate extremes. In order for planners, manufacturers and builders to make a reliable decision on the appropriate building products, suitable and simple criteria for sustainability and climate safety are needed. In April 2023, ift Rosenheim will therefore present suitable technologies and assessment criteria at the world's leading trade fair BAU in Munich together with innovative co-exhibitors in Hall C4 (501/502) as part of the special show "Climate-safe construction with sustainable and climate-resilient building products".

Futuristic city with many green spaces and planted facades and roofs
Special show "Climate-safe construction with sustainable and climate-resilient building products" at the world's leading trade fair BAU from 17-22 April 2023 in Munich (Hall C4). (Source: ift Rosenheim, Blue Planet Studio - Adobe Stock)
Large photovoltaic plant and housing estates surrounded by green landscape.
Special show "Climate-safe construction with sustainable and climate-resilient building products" at the world's leading trade fair BAU from 17-22 April 2023 in Munich (Hall C4). (Source: ift Rosenheim, Pavlo Glazkov - Adobe Stock)

Climate change, but also the current energy crisis, has led to a stable demand for a more sustainable way of life and economy in large parts of the German and European societies. Many people want to make a personal contribution in the fight against climate change but without significantly changing of their own behaviour. Therefore, technical solutions are preferred.

This is also urgently needed, because time for climate change mitigation has become very short. CO2 emissions must be drastically reduced by 2030 before tipping points make this extremely difficult. An important lever here is the building sector, because it contributes significantly to climate change through fossil heating energy and CO2 emissions from the production of building products and buildings. The great potential in the fight against climate change lies in the energetic renovation of the building stock. There are 250 million old window units in Germany with glass without low-E coating waiting to be replaced. This could save over 14 million tonnes of CO2 annually. That would be 50 % of the 28 million tonnes that would be necessary, according to “dena” (German agency for energy efficiency), to achieve the Climate Protection Plan 2030 for the building sector in Germany. An increase in energy-efficient and sustainable refurbishment is therefore necessary and feasible. For this, politicians should develope a "renovation booster" with attractive subsidy programmes, a tightening of energy requirements or an obligation to replace old windows. It is to be expected that in the next amendment of the German Building Energy Act (GEG) in 2025, the requirements for the U-value of the building envelope will be tightened, but also that solar gains will be counted again. "Pressure" is also coming from Europe in the form of the Minimised Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), which calls for a climate-neutral building stock by 2030.

It is undisputed that the consequences of climate change (climate extremes) are endangering people more frequently, especially through heat waves, heavy rain and storms. Many building owners therefore want to better protect themselves against the consequences of climate disasters. Building products will therefore have to meet these higher requirements in the future. This trend is also confirmed by an online survey conducted by ift Rosenheim and “B+L Marktdaten”. Of the 476 participants, 65% were of the opinion that the demand for sustainable and climate-resilient building products is increasing and that an evaluation system is necessary because normative requirements do not exist or are outdated. The environmental impacts can be determined by an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), but the data are only of limited use for a product decision. Therefore, a simple assessment of the sustainability and climate resilience of building elements is needed for building practice.

The special show "Climate-safe construction with sustainable and climate-resilient building products" uses fully functional exhibits to show which materials, constructions and technologies can be used to make buildings more sustainable and offer better protection against climate extremes. An action zone will present live, innovative assembly methods with which building elements can be assembled sustainably and more efficiently in order to meet the challenge of energy-efficient building refurbishment. On PC terminals, visitors will receive detailed information and can extensively test calculation/simulation tools and digital services (automatic EPD creation, CO2 calculator, Ökobaudat, control systems, etc. as well as digital services of co-exhibitors).

 

Further information and application forms for interested companies at
www.ift-rosenheim.de/en/bau-2023

 

Futuristic city with many green spaces and planted facades and roofs
Sustainable and climate-resilient building product

"Climate-safe construction" - BAU 2023

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Jürgen Benitz-Wildenburg

Head of PR & technical Communication

ift Rosenheim is committed to communicating the knowledge it has acquired to building professionals, planners and interested house owners dealing with windows, facades, glass, doors, garage doors and building materials.

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