Solar power envelope

Objective

This project develops a highly efficient building envelope component. Direct sunshine is transformed into electricity via integrated optics concentrating direct solar radiation on PV strips. Diffuse daylight penetrates into the building conditioning the office building with space heating, lighting and natural ventilation. The heat loss through the highly insulating evacuated glazing component is decreased to a level where diffuse light is sufficient to heat the building.
The solar power envelope is tested and evaluated in a pilot office building. Initial investigations shows, that this building will produce more energy than it consumes, throughout the year and throughout its entire life cycle. The objective of the monitoring programme of the pilot building is to verify components performance and overall building performance. Furthermore, the objective is to evaluate and document the indoor environmental qualities and user responses of this unique daylight workspace.
This objective of this pre competitive research project is very ambitious, developing very advanced component and using these new components and a completely new type of building. This ambitious project is only realistic with a very strong team working in collaboration under a European research project, JOULE. This European team consists of partners leading in each of their sectors. DTI is a major research organization in energy conservation, Saint-Gobain is a major glass manufacturer, Vegla is a major manufacturer of glazing/PV systems, and Skanska is leading construction and property company. All companies have a prime interest in developing and testing the Solar Power Envelope system, and all companies have prime interests in introducing the results of this research project in the market after proper demonstration and dissemination of the results.

Fields of science

• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › atmospheric sciences › meteorology › solar radiation
• engineering and technology › materials engineering
• natural sciences › physical sciences › optics
• natural sciences › mathematics › pure mathematics › arithmetics › prime numbers
• engineering and technology › environmental engineering › energy and fuels › renewable energy › solar energy › photovoltaic

Programme(s)

• FP4-NNE-JOULE C - Specific programme for research and technological development, including demonstration in the field of non-nuclear energy, 1994-1998

Topic(s)

• 0303 - Renewable energies in buildings

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

Dansk Teknologisk Institut

Address

Gregersensvej
2630 Taastrup
Denmark

Participants (5)

Lund University

Sweden

Address

24,sölvegatan
221 00 Lund

Saint-Gobain Vitrage

France

Address

60150 Thourotte

Skanska Staalteknik AB

Sweden

Address

5,husangsvagen
381 01 Kalmar

Vereinigte Glaswerke GmbH

Germany

Address

3-5,viktoriaallee
52066 Aachen

Ålborg Universitet

Denmark

Address

57,sohngårdsholmsvej
9000 Ålborg