Airborne pollutants are a threat to researchers and citizens alike. Using low-cost sensing technologies, the EU-funded VIDIS project hopes to deliver more accurate assessments of particulate matter exposure. Routine monitoring of air quality could offer significant health benefits for EU citizens.
The energy crisis has highlighted the importance of greater heating efficiency. The EU-funded RELaTED project showed how lower temperatures in district heating systems combined with heat pumps can reduce costs while still keeping homes and commercial premises warm. The findings can boost sustainable energy production, reduce energy waste, and provide cost-effective heating to consumers.
Europe’s cities create vast amounts of data, most of which isn’t used by urban planners and policymakers in their decision-making. The EU-funded DUET project created computer replicas of city systems to harness this information and transform cities for the better. The work will help with urban management and the evolution of ‘Smart Cities’ across Europe.
Many cities across Europe are aiming to become truly circular not only by recycling 100 % of the resources available from waste materials, but also by changing their production modes and optimising materials’ flows. The EU-funded REFLOW project developed innovative tools and guidelines to help them achieve this goal. The work will support greener cities for citizens.
Interventions like green roofs and waterway restoration can tackle key environmental issues. The EU-funded ReNature project developed a toolkit that helps researchers, planners and other stakeholders identify the best nature-based solutions for them. The work will deliver on the EU’s climate goals and allow citizens across the EU to enjoy greener cities.
IT solutions/tools can make urban services more efficient, sustainable and user-friendly. The citizens from these areas would need to fully understand how these tools work, and what the benefits are to profit from them. An ambitious EU-funded project has sought to achieve this by developing citizen-focused tools and supporting the next generation of smart city innovators.
Crowded cities aren't exactly optimal environments for plants to thrive. However, a team of EU-funded researchers is using robotics to help plants automatically grow into the unnatural shapes, sizes, and configurations that urban environments demand. As a result, cities could soon benefit from a robust green infrastructure used for everything from food production to climate control.
Renovating energy-inefficient buildings is crucial if Europe is to reduce its carbon footprint. That is why an EU-funded project is making renovations faster and easier, helping homes to save energy - for the benefit of the general public and the planet.
With some 210 million buildings in Europe, most of them energy inefficient, the scope for sustainability gains is huge. How would Europe deal with the cost of all those renovations? An EU-funded pilot scheme that already involves 65 banks is proposing incentivised mortgages as a way to leverage the necessary funds, fast.
EU-funded researchers behind a breakthrough solar-energy technology have also laid the material foundations for a new generation of digital displays that could surpass latest-generation OLED screens in brightness, colour range and energy efficiency.
