Can the building envelope play a role in the energy transition?

In the past the thermal insulation of buildings was poor and the incidence of the energy losses by transmission on the overall energy balance of the built environment was high. Therefore, the building envelope was considered a key element to provide adequate comfort levels and energy performance. In order to tackle the issue related to the energy losses, the properties of the building envelope that have been typically pursued were those of “separation”, “insulation”, “tightness” and “waterproofing”. From the point of view of the technological development, this meant to focus almost completely to the enhancement of the thermal resistance of the components. The benefits deriving from these policies were unquestionably relevant and allowed, especially in their first application phase, to realize more sustainable and healthy buildings and better facades. Nevertheless, in the first decade of the new millennium, the ambitious objectives aimed at achieving nZEB or ZEB buildings demanded an evolution of the traditional constructive habits. This meant to switch from static to dynamic building components, in order to better exploit the opportunities offered by the local climate and by the natural resources. Such innovation was the driving force of the R&D in the last ten years and up to the present. Still today, the main keywords in the field of the research on the building envelopes are: responsivity, adaptability, active response, integration, interactivity, multifunctionality. Remarkable results have been obtained as far as the ReD is concerned and today the major problem, if anything, lies in the massive deployment of these achievements in the real world of constructions (costs, users trust, reliability and construction easiness are still open problems). Therefore, today it is reasonable to wonder if there are still needs and perspectives for research and development in this field and if/howthe Building Envelope may play a role in the energy transition, that is the big game under way worldwide. This paper will sum up the research evolution during the time and will try to answer the question posed in the title.