With the two Horizon Europe Projects NET4Air and ECHO, both started on January 1st, 2023, Cnr-Icmate is at the forefront of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency research.
Through the two Horizon Europe projects launched on 1 January 2023, NET4Air and ECHO, the ICMATE institute is at the forefront of research on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, embracing objectives 7 (accessible clean energy), 11 (cities and sustainable communities) and 13 (climate actions) of the United Nations Agenda 2030.
NET4Air is part of the EU sub-programme “Enlargement of participation and dissemination of excellence”. In collaboration with the National Institute for Research and Development in Microtechnologies (IMT) (Bucharest-Romania) and the Tyndall Institute (Cork-Ireland), ICMATE will expand its research activity in the field of air quality monitoring. The goals of the Net4Air project are to significantly advance excellence, resources, know-how and attractiveness in the fields of innovative nanotechnologies, materials, devices, intelligent systems, data analytics and environment monitoring. These objectives are in line with the principles of the European Green Deal to protect the environment and contribute to the health and well-being of citizens.
The goals of the Net4Air project are to significantly advance excellence, resources, know-how and attractiveness in the fields of innovative nanotechnologies, materials, devices, intelligent systems, data analytics and environment monitoring. These objectives are in line with the principles of the European Green Deal to protect the environment and contribute to the health and well-being of citizens.
The exploratory project "Wearable and/or portable platform for air monitoring", carried out within Net4Air, will concern the development of a low-cost wearable/portable nanoelectronic platform for air monitoring. Activities will focus on sensors and the development of related electronics, energy management, data acquisition, processing and communication, demonstrating the ability of NET4Air partners to respond to European challenges such as climate change, also helping other countries, such as Romania to understand and reduce air pollution.
Upon completion of the project, Europe will benefit from the existence of a Network Center for Excellence in Nanoelectronics Sensing Technologies and Data Management for Environmental Monitoring Applications, built on the project consortium, which will facilitate better integration of Romania in the European Research Area.
HORIZON Europe Innovation Action ECHO (Efficient Compact Modular Thermal Energy Storage System) involves ICMATE among the Consortium partners from Italy, Spain, Romania, Belgium, Turkey, Serbia and the United Kingdom in close collaboration with the project coordinator, the Construction Technologies Institute (Cnr-Itc ) and the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences (Cnr-Isac) of the Cnr-Research Area of Padua.
ECHO's goal is to develop and demonstrate new modular, compact, high performance and Plug&Play thermal energy storage (TES) solutions for heating, cooling and domestic hot water production. This new TES concept will thus manage and resolve electrical and thermal load demands.
ECHO will develop technologies for end-consumer use, generation, networks, large-scale and distributed storage systems. This will be accomplished by finely engineered storage materials such as TCM (thermochemical materials), PCM (phase change materials), ice and related reactors which will be integrated into the building's thermal system by a specially designed control unit.
The results will be validated first in a laboratory prototype and then in real scale with three different demonstration sites located in Italy (Cnr research area of Padua), Serbia and Belgium.
As a flexible energy system aimed at managing the inherently intermittent nature of renewable energy, ECHO TES solutions will help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and pollutant emissions. Furthermore, ECHO's results will mark another step towards the energy transition.
For information:
- NET4Air Maria Losurdo, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- ECHO Simona Barison, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.