Buildings producing their own energy

An industrialised and innovative facade that turns solar energy into heat to reduce energy demand in old buildings will be installed next year in a building in Merida, Spain.

To address the problem of energy inefficiency in old buildings across Europe and pave the way for future sustainable cities, a consortium of researchers has designed an industrialised facade system for use in retrofitting works.

The system brings an imaginative technological solution that can be applied to different types of building and facade orientations.

“This system provides the tools for producing energy as well as insulating the building better — two major issues for the coming years in Europe,” said Julen Larraz Astudillo, architect at the Sustainable Construction Division of the TECNALIA research centre in Spain.

The facade is made of composite materials such as glass fibres and an organic binder. The insulation technology is ready now for full-scale implementation after undergoing a series of extensive tests that checked its fire, water, wind, impact, acoustic and permeability resistance.

Water tests checked the tightness of the technological units so that rainwater would not get inside and deteriorate the insulation, while wind trials subjected the facade to pressures up to 305 kg/m².

The project’s researchers said their system is neither simple, nor cheap, but they are optimistic about its ability to provide a good return on investment and meet cost-effectiveness requirements in order to penetrate competitive construction markets.

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