Refurbishing heritage buildings with BIPV, heat pumps, energy efficiency
An energy makeover of a heritage-listed church built in 1965, including new solar PV roof, new insulation, new windows, and heat pumps, enables it produce 149% of its energy requirements. The achievement garnered the project team the Norman Foster Solar Award 2023.
Color characterization technique for BIPV
Scientists in Switzerland have created a new technique to characterize the color of BIPV panels. The method uses an optical fiber spectrometer to detect color characterization signals.
High-efficiency colored BIPV panels
Researchers in China have reported a colorization strategy for solar based on photonic glass. They created solar panels that took on blue, green, and purple hues, while only dropping the efficiency of power generation from 22.6% to 21.5%.
BIPV facade for new exhibition space in Switzerland
Switzerland-based Novartis has deployed a 36 kW building-integrated PV facade on its new exhibition center in Basel. The system features 10,680 organic PV modules from France’s Asca.
PV can cover almost half of typical office buildings’ electricity demand
Scientists in Germany have estimated that roof and facade PV systems can cover almost 40% of the total requirements of a standard office building, assuming that no battery storage is installed.
