Sorigué’s research laboratory has completed the project entitled “Development of a new cooling pavement for improved urban energy efficiency: Albepav”. Its main goal was to make progress in the development of a highly durable and sustainable pavement that, through the incorporation of recycled glass aggregates and the use of tempered mixtures in its manufacture, would contribute significantly to a reduction in the “heat island” effect, an urban phenomenon whereby heat accumulates during the day as a result of the radiation absorbed by pavement and does not dissipate effectively at night.

As part of the project, an experimental testing area was built at the business group's industrial complex, La Plana del Corb (Balaguer, Lleida). This testing area was covered using an SMA bituminous mixture, with and without glass, on top of an artificial graded aggregate, also with and without glass.  

Additionally, a weather station was installed next to this section to take real-time measurements of the temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation of the new pavement.

The data collected by researchers was used to develop a predictive software for the “heat island” effect, which takes into account the mixture’s composition and the environmental conditions, and makes it possible to calculate the reduction in the radiation absorbed by the pavement and, therefore, the heat subsequently released into the environment.
 
This project was funded by the Centre for Industrial Technology Development (CDTI), with a total budget of 1,235,184.00 euros, of which Sorigué provided 494,449 euros.  The research was carried out together with Comsa, the project leader Progeo and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).