Promoting the energy and environmental resilience of cities through the development of cold roofs for urban cooling, CO2 capture and H2 production

• Grant number: 24/01299-4
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Regular Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Lia Toledo Moreira Mota
• Grantee: Lia Toledo Moreira Mota
• Principal researcher abroad: María Fátima Yubero de Servián
• Institution abroad: Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Campus San Lorenzo, Paraguay
• Principal researcher abroad: Noelia Liliana Alchapar
• Institution abroad: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-CAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ayelén María Villalba ; Celeste Zunilda Aquino Ayala ; Claudia Cotrim Pezzuto ; Janine Padilha Botton ; JULIETA BALTER ; Márcio de Sousa Góes ; Marcius Fabius Henriques de Carvalho ; Marcos Hongn ; María Victoria Mercado ; Michel Osvaldo Galeano Espínola ; Silvana Elinor Flores Larsen

Abstract

The energy transition is a process that seeks to redefine the way we produce and consume energy to reduce environmental impacts and promote urban sustainability. Energy demand in the building sector is expected to increase due to population growth, rapid urbanization, heat waves, and increased access to electricity in households. In particular, South America is in a region highly exposed to the consequences of climate change, a situation that is aggravated by social and environmental vulnerability. The project proposes the development of technologies with nano-coatings for cold roofs as part of a CO2 capture system and hydrogen production for energy purposes to improve the energy and environmental sustainability of cities. The methodology is developed in two scales of intervention, depending on the area of coverage: laboratory-object scale (development of nanotechnology) and building-urban scale (assessment of associated energy and environmental impacts). The analysis will be carried out in the Itaembé Guazú neighborhood, in Posadas, Misiones, Argentina (the first island with cold roofs in Latin America). The activities proposed with the development of the project will generate knowledge around the design and evaluation of innovative and value-added (nature-based) technologies to promote the transition of cities to cleaner energies. It will also increase the scientific and technical capacities available at participating research centres, exchange experience with other research groups and promote linkage and technology transfer with industry. The objective is to contribute to strategic energy planning as a fundamental tool for mitigating and adapting to global warming in the region's cities. (AU)