When it comes to innovation, the limit does not seem to exist when it comes to improving the way buildings operate and function. Now, more than ever, is the concern for green construction and building more evidently common practice, with many design firms, engineers, and contractors putting their efforts into sustainability. With this affinity, Arup, an international consulting firm that paved the way for marveled engineering projects like the Sydney Opera House and Beijing's Bird Nest for the 2008 Summer Olympics, led the design research for the world's first bio-adaptive façade, which will be installed in the BIQ house for the International Building Exhibition in Hamburg, Germany. The exhibition will be set to open on March 22, 2013.
"As well as generating renewable energy and providing shading to keep the inside of the building cooler on sunny days, this system also creates an interesting appearance that many architects and building owners will like. It is a valuable method for generating renewable energy, whilst providing effective solar shading which itself keeps cooling loads down." — Jan Wurm, Europe Research Leader,Arup
The concept proposes a zero-energy house that hopes to provide the first real-life test for the façade system that uses live micro-algae to produce energy while protecting the building from direct sunlight. The layered process is designed to contain the algae in what are termed bio-reactor panels, so that the algae grows faster in the bright sunlight so as to provide more internal shading. These bio-reactor panels also have other functions to help support the façade as well as in the operation of the building. By having the latest technology to not only produce biomass that can be harvested, the panels also capture solar thermal heat, thereby providing two energy sources that can be used to generate power for the building.
Arup explains that one of the major components in developing this was the natural process of photosynthesis due to the amount of solar shading required, while conjunctionally the micro-algae growing in the glass louvres provide a clean source of renewable energy.
“To use bio-chemical processes for adaptive shading is a really innovative and sustainable solution so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario. As well as generating renewable energy and providing shade to keep the inside of the building cooler on sunny days, it also creates a visually interesting look that architects and building owners will like.” — Jan Wurm
Algae in windows definitely provides a new meaning to "green buildings"!This would be a pretty interesting technology to put into practice and see if it were to operate like its designed. Bio-mass fuel from algae has been one of many alternative energy sources proposed over the last decade and if integrated into a building's facade could help to reduce energy use. I'd be interested to see how effective the algae panels would be at producing bio-fuel, and how much maintenance a system such as this would require. Lastly I wonder what the light conditions inside these buildings would be like, seems like it could be pretty green!
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see how the use of these algae panels would spread should this installation prove successful. I'd imagine many people might be apprehensive at first to say the least as it is a rather exotic idea. Perhaps this system would prove more useful in other climates as well as different scales of building, depending on the efficiency of the panels. While it is only for an exhibition, I noticed it was located in Germany during March, which I would imagine would be the most ideal time for an algae panel in a temperate German climate. During the winter however could be a different story. They might turn out to simply block out natural light that could heat and brighten the interior and perhaps require quite a bit of maintenance during the transitions of seasons. The exploration of this type of device in a long term situation should definitely be tested in a variety of climates as it might yield very different results.
ReplyDeleteNice find Carolina. Inventions such as this are a great step forward towards creating more net-zero-energy buildings. Many buildings were limited before by not having enough room for solar panels on the roof that could power the entire building. These panels will be great if they work because they can cover all sides of the structure, and are producing energy from two sources, solar and biomass. It is also great that they have a secondary purpose of controlling the amount of light that enters the building. I imaging that these panels are very expensive right now, but hopefully they will eventually reach a price point that allows them to be economically installed in many other structures.
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