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Transparent PV that regulates indoor climate

Project description

Making powerful glass structures

Today’s glass buildings offer a pleasant atmosphere and are huge. In Europe, however, these structures are responsible for 40 % of energy consumption and 36 % of greenhouse gases emissions. Recent regulations limit them as currently used solar shading panels are not effective, sustainable, or elegant. Yet, the EU-funded LUMIDUCT project aims to dramatically change this by introducing modular photovoltaic panels that enable buildings to generate and save energy by selectively shielding intense, direct light from the sun. This will result in up to 40 % savings in cooling costs and up to 30 % savings on artificial lighting, with excess light being converted into electricity, making buildings sustainable and in line with European zero-energy building goals.

Objective

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires public buildings to be nearly energy neutral in 2018 and commercial buildings are expected to follow in 2020. In the pursuit of these nearly zero-energy buildings, innovative solutions to embed renewable energy supply on the building are sought after. The use of solar panels on large façade’s area is not yet a plausible solution since, with current technologies, it would result in dark closed buildings, while residents and workers seek glass facades to enjoy daylight.
The Lumiduct is an innovative solution to generate renewable energy via the façade without having to compromise on transparency and design: a sun shading system made of transparent solar panels integrated into the building façade. The Lumiduct is the next step in making buildings energy-neutral.
During the day, the Lumiduct’s transparent solar panels automatically follow the position of the sun and at the same time filter the sunlight, converting the direct, blinding sunlight into energy, but letting diffuse, soft daylight through. During the night, an advanced version integrating LEDs makes it possible to create a beautiful atmosphere and communicate with the community. The Lumiduct creates awareness and makes living in and around the building a great experience.
The added value for the indoor climate is remarkable. Compared to a conventional automated sun shading system, the first results show that the Lumiduct system saves 24% on heating every year, 40% on cooling and 36% on lighting. Lumiduct has become a reality, having reached the pilot scale for the first time in a facade of 40 m² at an office building in the Netherlands.
The Lumiduct will disrupt the Building Integrated PV (BIPV) market by allowing energy-generating full-glass façades.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

SOLARSWING ENERGY BV
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
MOLENGRAAFFSINGEL 12
2629 JD DELFT
Netherlands

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
West-Nederland Zuid-Holland Delft en Westland
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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