Sustainability

Research building for new sustainable climate solutions

DTU marks the beginning of construction of new research building dedicated to mitigating climate change.

Monday 29 August 2022

Christina Tækker

DTU is now constructing a Climate Challenge Laboratory to help create the sustainable energy technologies of the future. On Wednesday, 31 August, the construction will be marked with a stone laying and walling ceremony.

When the Climate Challenge Laboratory opens in 2024, the building will house national research infrastructures and several research groups working together to solve some of our biggest climate challenges.

The goal is to form new national and international collaborations across disciplines and thus accelerate the development of the necessary solutions needed to create a sustainable future for us humans and our planet, says Rasmus Larsen, DTU’s Executive Vice President, Provost:

“With the Climate Challenge Laboratory, DTU can accommodate a significant research effort in new materials for Power-to-X technologies. There is a great need for new efficient, durable, and globally scalable materials for sustainable processes that can harvest, convert, and store electrical energy from renewable sources.”

Sustainability is front and centre

In the new Climate Challenge Laboratory it will be possible to carry out both experimental research work in laboratories and theoretical research work. Here, physicists, chemists, energy engineers, and biologists will work with researchers from other disciplines as well as students, companies, and other universities.

Among the new residents is a research centre working to develop sustainable catalysts that can make the production of renewable energy much more efficient. The centre is headed by professor Jens Kehlet Nørskov, one of the world’s leading catalysis researchers.

You will also find a basic research centre, where researchers can use a new world-class electron microscope to visualize catalytic materials and processes that take place at the atomic level in 3D—as well as a national unit that researches new functional energy materials for energy conversion and storage.

Sustainability is also at the centre of DTU’s development and construction of the Climate Challenge Laboratory itself. Like all new buildings at DTU, the building is certified according to the international standard for sustainable construction, the DGNB Gold.

Facts about the building:
Area: Approx. 10,000 m2
Height: Approx. 31 m
Location: DTU Lyngby Campus, Quadrant 3
Team: DTU, MT Højgaard Denmark, MOE Consulting Engineers, Christensen & Co Architects, and consultant Seriously Fun.
Target price: DKK 319.7 million

Sustainable construction

DTU derives environmental benefits from minimizing the building’s resource and energy consumption during construction—and in the long term by designing a flexible and robust building from materials that have been chosen with both CO₂ footprint and life cycle assessments in mind. For example, the Climate Challenge Laboratory is the first building at DTU Lyngby Campus to have a significant part of its structures made from wood.

There is also a large focus on the indoor climate. Here, DTU aims to create an optimal working environment and achieve the new standard, the DGNB Gold Heart. In addition, the house will be built according to the principles of universal design, so that people with different needs can thrive and unfold their talent in the best possible way.

Nature also plays a major role in the Climate Challenge Laboratory—both on the façade and in the courtyard, where DTU works to create the highest possible biodiversity.

DTU has submitted its experiences to the so-called ‘voluntary sustainability class’, which will become a mandatory part of the Danish building regulations in 2023. Thus, DTU hopes to push the construction industry in a more sustainable direction.

The building occupants will include:
The national unit E-MAT, the research centre Catalysis Theory Center (CATTHEORY), and the basic research centre Center for Visualizing Catalytic Processes (VISION).

Contact

Rasmus Larsen Provost Rektoratet Phone: +45 45251010 Mobile: +45 22153943 DTU-provost@dtu.dk