by Giuliana Bonvicini21   Ottobre   2020

LIFE SUPERHERO, SUstainability and PERformances for HEROTILE energy efficient roofs

In order to improve ASV (Above Sheathing Ventilation), the Life “HEROTILE” project (LIFE14 CCA/IT/000939) has developed new types of roof tiles over the last three years: the Marseille terracotta tile and the Portuguese one, both in a shape that makes them more permeable to air, thus increasing energy efficiency thanks to an under-tile venting system that dissipates the heat from solar radiation. To promote and spread the right use of the herotile based roof in Europe, which can optimize thermal comfort and energy saving while having low environmental impact and reduced investment costs, thus greatly contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation, it is necessary to to remove a few obstacles which are mainly linked to two factors: the legislative framework and the awareness of operators. Without overcoming these barriers, actions to improve energy efficiency in European buildings will continue to mainly concern insulation of the building envelope, that does bring a reduction in heating costs but does not solve the problem of the excess of heat we have during the summer.
 

Considering the increasing need to cool buildings down, especially with a view to climate change, these barriers need a prompt and effective response. To that extent, a new layout has been presented within the LIFE Climate Change Adaptation. The LIFE SUPERHERO project (SUstainability and PERformances for HEROTILE energy efficient roofs, its acronym being LIFE19 CCA/IT/001194), will be launched next July. The new LIFE SUPERHERO project proposal has been supported by industrial partners Confindustria Ceramica, HISPALYT and other 3 brick manufacturing companies which are members of Confindustria Ceramica: Industrie Cotto Possagno, Terreal and Edilians. The other partners are: Centro Ceramico (coordinator), Polytechnic University of Marche, Centre Technique de Matériaux Naturels de Construction, ACER and Reggio Emilia City Council. The project is being supported by Tiles & Bricks Europe (TBE), by Cerame Unie (The European Ceramic Industry Association), by UNI (Italian Organization for Standardization), by Ziegel and by GBCI (Green Building Council Italia).
 

The study will therefore allow to spread the results already achieved during the previous project and increase awareness in end users and stakeholders about the environmental friendliness of ventilated and permeable roofs (VPR). In particular, LIFE SUPERHERO aims at spreading the use of VPR as an effective solution to climate mitigation and adaptation. The implemented strategy is based on 4 fundamental pillars:
- standardization and regulation aimed at overcoming legislative barriers that don't allow the promotion of ventilated and permeable roofs;
- best practices of implementation of the SUPERHERO building roof that will be installed onto two demonstrator buildings in Reggio Emilia;
- development of a software tool that will enable the final decision-makers to calculate the economic and environmental benefits  generated by SUPERHERO;
- replicability and industrial transferability for an effective market penetration of the new roofing.
The promotion of the  SUPERHERO ventilated and permeable roofs  will enable environmentally friendly strategic synergies: reduction of global warming by increasing the thermal comfort of buildings, reduction of cooling energy, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and of the urban heat island effect.