Press releases of the Fraunhofer IBP

Cutting carbon emissions by more than two-thirds with consistently high quality: Specialists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP are working on future ways to manufacture the popular construction material with as little climate impact as possible. They will be showcasing their solutions at the BAU trade show in Munich from January 13 to 17, 2025.

Under the motto "Mission for the future of building affordable.sustainable.safe", from January 13 to 17, 2025, the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance will be presenting innovations as part of its special exhibition at the BAU 2025 trade fair in three key areas of transformation in the construction industry: sustainability, productivity and resilience. The exhibits will be on display in and around a two-story Innovation Cube in Hall C2, Booth 528. The Innovation Cube is a symbolic building for demonstrating the latest smart solutions both for the building envelope and for the interior.

In Germany, there are around three million buildings that are contaminated with the toxic wood preservatives lindane and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Previous measures for minimizing contamination include insulating contaminated areas or disposing of treated wooden building materials as hazardous waste. However, these measures are neither sustainable nor cost-efficient. In the CycloPlasma project, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP are developing a new type of process to remove these decades-old contaminants — in the air as well as in contaminated wooden structures — in a way that is residue-free, sustainable and does not pose a health risk. For this purpose, the scientists have combined an innovative adsorber material with plasma technology.

The number of incidents involving damaged electronic devices on board aircraft has increased in recent years. Most of these are caused by lithium-ion batteries, which are found in laptops and other portable electronic devices. In the LOKI-PED project, the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI and the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP are collaborating with Airbus to assess the fire and smoke risks associated with lithium-ion batteries in cockpits and cabins. The objective is to make it safer to use portable devices on board.

The plaster and mortar used in facades often contain heavy metals and biocides that leach out and and infiltrate into the soil when it rains. The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP has created a model that combines measurements of the substances that leach out with regional meteorological data. This creates a precise forecast that can be used at the planning stage to determine the type and amount of substances that could be released from facade materials when it rains. This complex project was a collaborative effort alongside universities and numerous partners from industry.

As climate change progresses, extreme weather events such as prolonged hot spells, storms and heavy rain are occurring ever more frequently, and cities are feeling the strain. The new urban climate model PALM-4U will allow municipal staff and city planners to simulate the effects of their planned construction projects on the urban climate, so that they can gauge the consequences of extreme weather events before they happen, improve quality of life in urban areas and protect the health of the sick and the elderly. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP created the user interface for the simulator, putting their many years of expertise in fields such as hygrothermics and indoor climate to good use.

In order to implement sustainable production, sustainable consumption and circular economy in practice, both systemic and technical solutions are required. According to an idea of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, these solutions are to be created in so-called CIRCONOMY® Hubs. These are Germany-wide networks that bring together partners from science, industry, associations and society to focus on a specific area. Two of these networks have already started their work: the hubs "Material Cycles in the Construction Sector" and "Circular Carbon Technologies CCT".

Times are challenging: not only have building materials become significantly more expensive in 2022, but the number of building permits for apartments has also fallen by almost seven percent¹. Changes are also in store for the construction industry due to increasing digitization as well as higher requirements governing the energy efficiency of buildings or their indoor climate. New solutions from industry, politics and research are therefore urgently needed. At the BAU 2023 trade fair, which will be taking place in Munich from April 17 to 22, 2023, Fraunhofer IBP will be showcasing innovative products and system solutions on the topics of Digitization, Energy and Heat, The Future of Living and Working, and Resources and Recycling at the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance booth (Hall C2, Booth 528) as part of the special exhibition “Building the Future”.

Energy is scarce – and like all scarce things, it comes at a price. That is why Germany needs to greatly reduce its energy consumption. There is significant potential for this in the area of heating and cooling energy which accounts for a large proportion of Germany’s energy consumption. Innovative materials that can be programmed to control heat transition can be a valuable tool in this scenario. The use of materials like these could, for instance, save up to 40 percent of the energy used to cool single-family homes.

The packaging world is experiencing a shift away from plastic toward paper, cardboard or paperboard. But how sustainable is this new trend? In its latest report “Reusable plastic crates vs. single-use cardboard boxes — two packaging systems in competition”1, the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP were commissioned by the Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg (SIM) to explain the background to and correlations between the ecological effects of single-use cardboard boxes and reusable plastic crates. A general discourse on the topic of single-use vs. reusable solutions intends to help political actors lay the groundwork for a viable circular economy of the future.