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Project

Environmental impact of photonic concrete and assessment of its potential effect on global warming for large scale applications

T5.1 Environmental life cycle assessment of the meta-concrete product and the roof prototype. The environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) method will be applied during the various stages of the product development and to assess the roof prototype. In line with the EC PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) method, a broad set of environmental indicators will be assessed, including climate change, but covering also amongst others acidification, euthrophication, particulate matter, ecotoxicity, water depletion and human toxicity. Task 5.1.1 Cradle-to-gate environmental assessment of the various concrete compositions of WP1 to identify the preferred solution(s) from an environmental perspective. The impact of the various concrete compositions will moreover be compared with the impact of conventional concrete (used in roof applications) in order to investigate if impacts are higher or lower. Task 5.1.2 Cradle-to-gate environmental assessment of the PMC of WP3 to identify the preferred topology, composition and material of the steel microfibers from an environmental point of view. Task 5.1.3 Comparative life cycle environmental assessment of the roof build- ups to gain insight in the impact of the roof build-up with the newly developed concrete foam compared to a business-as-usual roof. The various life cycle stages are compared, i.e. production phase (from task 5.1 + 5.2), construction phase, use phase and end-of-life phase. For the use phase, the impact of heating the building will be considered based on the performance assessment results / monitoring data obtained in task 4.4. Task 5.1.4 Exploration of the effect of implementing the PMC on a larger scale on mitigating climate change / reducing heat island effects. A combination of methods will be required for this subtask. First, the results of task 5.3 will be upscaled considering various upscaling scenarios (e.g. 10% to 100% of new flat roofs in Europe will use the PMC). Second, as the environmental LCA study does not cover the climate change mitigation effect of the roof due to the short-wave irradiation, nor its contribution to reducing heat island effect, methods need to be explored which can enable this assessment. In order to get an idea of these additional effects, climate modelling experts will be consulted to clarify how this could be modelled and if first estimates can be done for various upscaling scenarios. T5.2 Impact of PMCs in solar cell applications. The goal is to demonstrate the possible exploitation of PMC in photovoltaics (PV), as enabling low cost and high scalable technology for passive radiative cooling of solar cells. This has huge potential impact on many PV fields, on Earth – in both non-concentrator and concentrator PV – and in space. Different configurations will be envisaged, where the PMC can be used to realize: i) a novel class of radiative heat sink mounted at the back of the solar cell, taking advantage of the spectral separation of solar cell absorptivity and cooler emissivity; ii) a novel class of cooling cover glass, thermally radiant and optically transparent to sunlight . The PMC as designed and optimized in WPs 1/2/3 is immediately applicable to approach i), whereas for approach ii) further PMC engineering and micro/nanostructuring will enable the radiative cover glass to be transparent to the sunlight while keeping high emissivity in the AW. Task 5.2.1 Assessment of thermodynamic efficiency limit: In the task first stage, architectures and PMC performance requirements will be analysed by PoliTO with the input of CSIC based on detailed balance model complemented by full-wave electromagnetic, thermal, and electrical simulations. This will provide the efficiency limits of each architecture benchmarked against different PV applications. Task 5.2.2 Device design. In the second stage, the most promising solution(s) will be developed and engineered through device level multiphysics simulations, including light management optimization for the PMC-based cooler, to bring the design close to the practical implementation. The outcome will be a recipe for employing PMCs into solar cell setups.

Date:1 Sep 2021 →  Today
Keywords:life cycle assessment, climate change, roof prototype, photonic concrete
Disciplines:Sustainable building
Project type:PhD project