Project description
Improving comfort and energy consumption in buildings
Climate change poses a serious danger to people worldwide. In response, the EU has taken various measures and has shown increased demand for novel ideas for green energy. Currently, buildings account for 40 % of energy consumption and an impactful 36 % of CO2 emissions in the EU, thus making them an important target for green energy solutions. The EU-funded PowerBrise project, with a focus on buildings, aims to innovate with the introduction of a novel solution for building photovoltaic facades. The solution utilises the benefits of brise-soleil systems, photovoltaic energy as well as building automation systems to provide energy and improve comfort for workers in the buildings.
Objective
Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36 % of CO2 emissions and are an important field of action in the EU. Europe counts with a vast potential volume of 600000 non-residential buildings and more than 70% of the global photovoltaic market, forecasted to reach more than 2.05 billion € annually. PowerBrise comes as a smart solution both to significantly improve the energy self-consumption of large non-residential buildings and to increase their energy efficiency. Synthesis s.r.l. goes a step further in the current state of the art by developing an novel photovoltaic solution for building Façades which integrates for the first time the benefits of : (1) Brise soleil (or louver system), (2) Photovoltaic power and (3) Building Automation Systems (BAS). PowerBrise uses sun radiation to generate power but at the same time lets in some sun light through the semi-transparent cells.
Brise soleil by its own increases the comfort inside the building and reduces up to 25% its energy consumption; the integration of photovoltaic cells inside the glass of brise soleil and the smart motorization to automatically follow the sun direction, makes PowerBrise is able to save up 40% of the building energy costs, supplying by means of renewable energy, up to 25% of the energy consumed by the building. We expect that the deployment of PowerBrise in the EU and international markets will allow Synthesis for the exploitation of a business opportunity in new and retrofit installations that will bring cumulative revenues of 30 M€ by 2025, with a ROI of 4.7 and the creation of 37 direct jobs by 2025. This Phase 1 will allow us to ensure that PowerBrise is feasible from a technical and economic point of view, and that its implementation will be a commercial success
Fields of science
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringurban engineeringsmart cities
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systems
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- engineering and technologymaterials engineering
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.3. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
- H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
20121 MILANO MI
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.