The question how energy supply can be made environmentally friendly, socially acceptable and economic, and in the quickest time possible, is being asked with increasing urgency across the world. Forward-looking answers are required. On 8 and 9 November 2011, approximately 350 participants from ten countries discussed concepts and solutions for sustainable architecture and solar construction at the 4th International and Scientific Bauhaus.SOLAR Congress at the Messe Erfurt.
The presentations and discussions highlight that forward-looking, sustainable solutions only exist if people think and act across interdisciplinary. That means that in the future, it will no longer be a matter of manufacturing individual new products, but systematically thinking about understanding them as an integral part of the entire system of buildings during their development.
In addition, nowadays, solar construction means developing concepts with energetic and resource-conserving considerations for urban and rural areas, no longer simply for individual building structures.
Across all trades and sectors, from architects and civil engineers to grid operators, all speakers emphasised their strong intention and willingness to search for new systemic solutions together.
Hubert Aulich, chairman of the organiser SolarInput e. V., called on architects, urban and landscape planners and the solar industry "to look for new ways of holistically integrating photovoltaics as energy-producing components into buildings and landscape. To do this, architects, the construction material industry and solar industry must work closer together. Architects should place more emphasis on the quality of energy."
Furthermore, he requested that all participants "find aesthetically suitable solutions for the new technologies. As only then can they also be increasingly accepted in society."
Today's fragmentation of construction duties must, according to the rector of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke, fundamentally change in order to be able to overcome the current challenges. He is therefore pleading for a holistic view: "The communication between the planners and executive producers must be improved so that the ambitious climate protection goals for construction can actually be achieved. It is therefore important that the use of photovoltaics and other renewable energies in construction are not considered separately, but that these are always integrated into the overall concept of the building."
The conclusive plenary session named open issues of action such as including the materials industry even more in the development. There is also still huge demand for training. To date there has been a lack of chairs for technical building services in Germany, a key area for the successful implementation of new innovative technological construction concepts.
The integration of renewable energies when renovating old buildings is also crucial. With a renovation rate of a maximum of two percent per year, the stock will meet today's criteria in 50 years at the earliest. The aim should therefore be to find the best energy solution for every renovation property.
Bauhaus.SOLAR with great "impact": The congress once again had a powerful impact in 2011. Around 350 professionals followed the more than 40 presentations. The topics covered in the presentations ranged from solar facades, "technologies for solar active houses", "solar city planning in six European cities" right through to "integral energy landscapes". Buildings and settlement areas, according to the aim of solar construction, will increasingly be transformed from energy consumers to decentral energy producers while reducing environmentally harmful emissions at the same time.
An accompanying poster session provided information on innovations and on the integration of renewable energies. The congress is established as an important annual event in the calendar of the German and European solar industry, architecture and science. The content-related and media significance of the congress also reflects the industry participation: over 30 sponsors and exhibitors also presented innovative construction materials and technologies this year. There were more cooperation and media partnerships than the previous year. The poster session and the exhibition took place in their own hall for the first time. Professionals and companies extensively use the opportunity to hold in-depth meetings, discussions and new contacts.
