The Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics IBP deals with research, development, testing, demonstration and consulting in the fields of building physics: acoustics, sound insulation, lighting, energy conservation, indoor climate, durability, hygrothermics, building chemistry, building biology, hygiene, new building materials, preservation of buildings as well as life cycle engineering and life cycle assessment.
3.2.4.1 Department Life Cycle Engineering (GaBi)
The department Life Cycle Engineering (GaBi) was founded in 1989 within the Institute for Polymer Testing and Polymer Science (IKP) at Universität Stuttgart. In 2006 the department has moved to the Chair for Building Physics. As a result the dept. GaBi also became part of the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) in 2008.
Key activities of the department GaBi is the Life Cycle Engineering and analysis of products, processes and services concerning their environmental, economical, social and technical aspects throughout the whole Life Cycle to be used as basis for decision support and decision making.
The development of methods for Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and the integration of social sustainability assessment is strongly oriented on international cooperation. As extension of Life Cycle Assessment according to EN 14040/14044, Life Cycle Engineering also integrates costing aspects into the assessment and balances technical properties of considered products and process systems.
In precise projects life cycle related questions are associated with main issues of technical feasibility, capacities infrastructures and substance flow management.
The method of Life Cycle Engineering has been applied to numerous projects. Well over 200 person years of project experience has been gained so far. Customers are from industries as well as from public institutions.
The gained Know How is taught to students of technical disciplines. The engineering background, the extensive project experience and the successful linking of research with practical application in industry leads to high qualitative, reliable and customer-oriented solutions. The developed software solutions and databases are worldwide applied in industry practice, research and consultancy in the field of sustainability.
The Department of Life Cycle Engineering of Fraunhofer IBP supports Brazilian companies, research institutes and universities in all above mentioned fields as well as in assessing the sustainability performance of their products, processes and systems, including environmental, economic and social aspects. It also took part in the pilot project to generate the first Brazilian datasets in the Brazilian National LCI Database.
Key activities of the Department Acoustics are as follows:
The field of acoustic research and development in Photoacoustics (PA) was established at the IBP in the years 2005/2006. One part of the background represents the internationally recognized research and development of the Institute of Physical Chemistry (Prof. Peter Hess) of the University of Heidelberg. The well known expert of gas phase photoacoustics, Dr. András Miklós, is integrated in the current activities at the IBP.
The applied research in photoacoustics is directed mostly to the development of photoacoustic gas sensors and monitors for diverse applications in the industry, environment protection, medical diagnostics, biological problems, safety, quality control, etc. Additionally, fundamental research for improving the performance of the photoacoustic detection method and for developing novel PA sensors is also carried out in the laboratories of the IBP.
A presentation (in Portuguese) done at the Industry Federation of the State of São Paulo (FIESP) about our work is available.
The contact person for Brazilian partners is Mrs. Cecilia Makishi Colodel. Contacts can be made also in Portuguese.
Fraunhofer Liaison Office Brazil