The emphasis in building physics will be on the following global challenges:
- Climate change / destruction of nature: Human centred living environments: considering environmental constraints, climate change limits, the environment, resource limits and efficiency as well as raw materials.
- Health & wellbeing, equality and poverty: health related aspects of the built environment, demographic change, climatic extremes and wellbeing, fuel and energy poverty, social housing, education facilities, care facilities and assisted living;
- Secure, clean, affordable and efficient energy supplies: smart buildings, smart cities and intelligent building systems, community energy systems and renewable networks and storage including green and integrated transport
There are four main research themes supporting the delivery of the global challenges
- ICT and digitalisation, that is big data analytics, forecasting, model predictive control, modelling smart buildings, smart communities and cities)
- Civil engineering, architecture and design, that is the interface between design and wellbeing, including daylighting, occupancy comfort and health, indoor air quality, building biology but also the availability and generation of accurate climate data
- Energy policy & regulations, that is informing building regulations, planning policy, at a national and regional level, creation of frameworks (e.g. in the context of social housing by improving cost effectiveness of the delivery of a zero carbon policy), down to new frameworks such as heat health warning systems, new overheating regulations (BRAC), and knowledge transfer
- Materials and resource efficiency, that is the whole life performance of materials used in the built environment, hygrothermal performance, acoustic performance, carbon storing materials, innovative new materials, working with existing materials to create resilient buildings, weathering processes, resources availability, close loop fabrication, LCA, carbon sequestration (and work that is happening in IEA Annex 71)
