The University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB) was established in 2012 as an interdisciplinary research institute of the CTU in Prague with the mission to contribute to the reduction of energy consumption and environmental burden in the building industry. UCEEB marks the date of the start of its research activities as 15th of May 2014, when the preparatory period was completed with the opening of its new campus in Buštěhrad, Central Bohemia.
The faculties of civil, mechanical, electrical and biomedical engineering of the CTU participated in the creation of the UCEEB. "The intention was to concentrate experts with knowledge in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, information technology and hygiene of the indoor environment into one highly equipped centre.
This allows us to take a holistic approach in our efforts to reduce energy consumption and the use of natural resources in the construction and renovation of buildings," says UCEEB Director Ing. Robert Jára, Ph.D.
Since its foundation, UCEEB has been continuously developing. It currently has a total of 174 employees working in 21 specialised laboratories. During its ten years of operation, the Centre has worked on 228 research grants, 49 of which are still ongoing. In addition, it has long-standing collaborations with the public sector and industry, for which it has carried out more than 1 705 contract research contracts. It is also involved in the development of new standards and the activities of a number of professional societies and industry associations.
UCEEB's activities have resulted in a number of scientific publications, utility model and patent applications, innovations transferred to industrial applications and awards. "All of our research makes a contribution and moves us closer to our goal. It is therefore very difficult to pick out our greatest achievement. If I had to choose according to the size of the public and media response, I would probably choose the S.A.W.E.R. technology for producing water from dry desert air, which was part of the Czech national exposition at the EXPO 2020 World Exhibition in Dubai. In a huge international competition, it won the award for the best innovation from the organisers and proved that even a small research centre can shine on a global level," says Robert Jára, adding: "We are also very proud of our other achievements, not least our building, which was voted into the TOP 10 groundbreaking green buildings in the Czech Republic in 2019 by members of the Czech Green Building Council."
Vojtěch Petráček, Rector of the CTU, said, "For the CTU, minimizing the environmental burden and maximizing sustainability is an important long-term topic at all levels, and UCEEB with its results is one of the best proofs of this. I greatly appreciate the work of my colleagues and wish them another successful decade of research that benefits society as a whole."
