Dr. Cynthia Cruickshank has received $5.1 million in funding from the NRCan Energy Innovation Program and the Ontario Research Fund to develop new building envelope technologies that make Canada’s buildings more energy efficient and less greenhouse gas intensive.
Drawing upon advances in super-thin insulation materials, prefabricated construction and panelized retrofits, the Centre for Advanced Building Envelope Research (CU-CABER) will develop new approaches to constructing building envelopes that are thinner and cheaper, and new methods for renovating existing buildings with less cost and less disruption. These technology breakthroughs will make Canada’s buildings healthier and more comfortable.
The funding supports the construction of large-scale building envelope test equipment, including a state-of-the-art, two-story guarded hot box with a spray rack, capable of testing full-scale residential and building facades, and a materials characterization lab.
This research brings together government, academic and industry resources to offer hands-on education opportunities at the collegiate, undergraduate and post-graduate levels. These partnerships will create learning opportunities at all levels in the workforce – including construction trades, building design professionals, engineers, project managers, and building science researchers.
CU-CABER will be located at the CanmetENERGY complex in Ottawa.
