Search results

Internship Report presented to the Escola Superior de Tecnologia of Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, done at Università Politecnica delle Marche to fulfill the requirements to obtain the degree of Master in Sustainable Construction

The present internship, elaborated in the context of an Erasmus Internship, is part of the conclusion of the master’s degree in Civil Engineering in Sustainable Construction, of the School of Technology of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco. Extreme climate events have grown tremendously in the last years, which indicates that climate change is happening, and its impacts will test the quality of life in the world. During the last years, the frequency and intensity of the heatwaves increase all over the EU causing a lot of problems such as the increase of energy use for cooling with adjacent CO2 emissions and damages in public health. Also combining the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, it will result in higher temperatures inside buildings, especially existing ones. Comfort and health problems will occur for weak and disadvantaged people. A sustainable and low-cost answer for cities and buildings overheating is using “passive cooling” technologies, that allows to reduce the temperatures in buildings envelope – roofs and walls – and the surrounding air, which limits the UHI. The most promising strategy is the use of Ventilated and Permeable Roofs (VPR). The research project LIFE HEROTILE developed “HEROTILES” that have an improved cooling ability compared to another roof technologies. The aim of the training performed and explained in this report is to assess and define how much the Ventilated Permeable Roof (VPR) and the HEROTILE Roof (HBR) impact on the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, and it will be developed within the LIFE SUPERHERO research project. The research project is a partnership between Università Politecnica delle Marche (Italy), Centro Ceramico (Italy), acer (Italy), Comune di Reggio Emilia (Italy), Confindustria Ceramica (Italy), CTMNC (France), Edilians (France), HYSPALYT (Spain), Industrie Cotto Possagno (Italy) and Terreal (Italy).