Under Call for Applications No. 02/SIAC/2012 and within the scope of the “energy, environment and sustainable development” intervention area, COMPETE’s Steering Committee approved application No. 38235 to be developed by APICER until 30/06/2015.

This application, called “CER(amica) + Sustentável”, is part of the Collective Efficiency Strategy associated with the Sustainable Habitat Cluster, whose managing body is the Platform for Sustainable Construction.

With an eligible investment of 429,490.36 euros and an incentive of 343,592.29 euros, the project aims to promote environmental competitiveness factors to improve the sustainability of ceramic products throughout their life cycle (cross-effect and cost-benefit analysis of the use of solid fuels in the firing of ceramic materials and their impact on gas emissions, and prospective assessment of the release of heavy metals by utilitarian ceramic tableware in contact with food).

The project aims to:

1) Study of the thermal behaviour of roofs with ceramic tiles – Contribute to the sustainability of materials by optimizing energy savings and the thermal comfort of houses with ceramic roofs.

2) Measures to raise awareness and control substances released from ceramic materials into aqueous media – Carrying out this study will make it possible to identify the substances contained in ceramic tiles that could migrate into water. Any harmful substances detected will be identified, along with their origin, so that they can be eliminated.

3) Developing and raising awareness of good practices for reducing exposure of ceramic industry workers to respirable crystalline silica – Consolidating knowledge and disseminating the best techniques and technologies for reducing exposure of ceramic industry workers to respirable crystalline silica (RCS).