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Construction industry researchers at Aalto University have received more than 350 000 euros in EU funding for the Nero project (Cost reduction of new Nearly Zero-Energy Wooden buildings in the Northern Climatic Conditions). 

'We are looking for solutions for cutting the production costs of future near zero-energy buildings by improving their design and manufacturing processes,' says Jarek Kurnitski, the professor in charge of the project. Aalto University's Professor of Indoor Environment Technology Heidi Salonen and Professor of Operations Management in Construction Antti Peltokorpi are also taking part in the project.

'We are focusing on improving the energy and cost-efficiency of our construction sites by building buildings in cold climate conditions in different countries. We are also examining the carbon footprint produced by buildings over their entire life-cycle,' Mr Kurnitski explains. 'Our objective is to demonstrate the type of technological solutions and procurement methods that should be used to produce cost-effective nearly zero-energy buildings with wooden frames.'

Nero is one of the few EU funded Nordic cooperation projects. In addition to Aalto University, the consortium includes the city of Kouvola, the Tallinn University of Technology (TTU), Chalmers University of Technology and Norwegian research institute SINTEF. The total financing received by the joint project is just over EUR 1.8 million.

Further information:

Jarek Kurnitski
jarek.kurnitski@aalto.fi
tel. +358 (0)50 374 4379

Horizon 2020 is an EU research and innovation framework programme for 2014–2020, which funds European research and innovation projects with nearly 80 billion euros. The funding model of Horizon 2020 is based on competition and on average, 10 percent of the applications result in receiving funding. The programme aims at creating growth and new jobs in Europe and improving the global competitiveness of European companies.