Isabel Barros Architects – Blog

Archive for Sustainability

barros | April 16, 2012

Guided Factory Tour at Fronius in Austria

Fronius creates new technologies and solutions for monitoring and controlling energy. They are technological leaders in the field of battery charging systems, welding technology and solar electronics.

This tour was part of the Renewable Energy Research Trip to Austria that took place in November 2011.

The factory is impressive but unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos inside. The 38,000 sq.m. building features an innovative energy concept with one of the largest photovoltaic systems in Austria (615 Kwp/3600 sq.m.), a biomass power station (1500kw) and a geothermal system for heating and cooling.

Fronius Factory - Roof with solar photovoltaics

Just the photovoltaic system on its own could cover the annual electricity consumption of 160 households.

View to the Fronius "Kinderland" creche

Added extras, such as the Fronius “Kinderland” creche and staff restaurant, cater for the wellbeing of employees.

I was also very impressed with their HyLOG project.

“HyLOG” stands for Hydrogen powered Logistic System. The ambitious goal of this project is the implementation of an emissions-free and more efficient in-house logistics system in a real industrial application environment – in this case, at the Fronius facility in Sattled, Austria.

Fronius Austria Hydrogen Energy HyLog Project

Fronius HyLog Project

Instead of batteries, logistical vehicles at the Fronius Sattledt location are operated using environmentally-friendly hydrogen.

The hydrogen used for the HyLOG vehicle is produced by Fronius in-house via an electrolysis process powered by the 615 kW PV system on the roof of the building. The hydrogen is then stored and made available for refueling via an in-house filling station infrastructure. The fuel cell drive integrated into the vehicle is used to convert the hydrogen into energy to operate the vehicle.

1. PV modules. 2. Electrolyser. 3. Hydrogen reservoir. 4. Hydrogen tank. 5. Fuel cell (on-board). 6. Electronic drive unit (on-board). 7. Inverter. 8. Sattledt production facility. 9. HyLOG truck.

Here’s how it works: The PV modules (1) capture the sunlight and turn it into DC current. Power needed immediately at the Sattledt production facility (8) is made available by way of the electronic inverter module (7). The rest of the electric power is used by the electrolyser (2) to split water into its twin constituents, oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen is stored in a reservoir (3), and the oxygen is released into the atmosphere. The HyLOG vehicles are refuelled with this stored hydrogen at a filling station (4). Together, the fuel cell (5) and electronic drive unit (6) integrated in the HyLOG truck (9) turn the hydrogen into motive power. The main benefit of this zero-emission materials-handling solution is that refuelling with hydrogen only takes a few minutes, whereas conventional battery-powered warehouse trucks have to be recharged for 8 to 10 hours every time.

Isabel Barros

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Category: Energy, Featured, Sustainability | Tags: Austria, Energy, Renewable, Solar, Sustainability

barros | March 27, 2012

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Visit to Power Tower Energy AG in Austria

The Power Tower in Linz, Austria is the first office tower to attempt to meet the Passive House standards.

This visit was part of the Renewable Energy Research Trip to Austria that took place in November 2011.

The Power Tower was built to house the corporate headquarters of the Austrian utility company Energie AG. The new offices were built from 2006 to 2008 on the same location of Energy AG previous headquarters built in the 1930s. We were told that when they demolished the original building everything that was possible to reuse it was kept and used in the new building.

Energy Systems

The Power Tower is not dependent of fossil fuels. The energy is obtained through the soil and the ground water, and/or generated by the solar panels that are integrated into the façade.

Façade

Dieter Moor from Ertex Solar was our guide for this visit. He explained the façade was specifically developed for this project and 90% of the solar heat remains outside the building, therefore it was not necessary to install a conventional air-conditioning system. The building envelope was specially engineered to allow maximum day lighting while minimizing solar gain, which would normally be excessive and require a great deal of active cooling.

The façade system is made of enclosed panels (with no access), quadruple glazed, and the outside pane has two glass panels laminated together. A small device inside each module sucks the air and moisture. The U-Value is 0.5 W/m².

60% of the Power Tower façade is transparent, the remaining 40% have an opaque surface highly insulated.

The South façade has three vertical photovoltaic bands that cover approximately 650m² and generate about 42,000 kWh of electricity per year (10% of the building’s energy).

Heating and Cooling

A combined heat-pump plant provides 100% of the energy to the heating, cooling and ventilation systems of the high-rise office building.

Power Tower - Plant Room

The soil and the ground water are used as thermal sources. Depth probes and foundation piles extract the energy for heating and cooling from the ground.

Power Tower - Manifold for the 46 geothermal wells

Beneath the building, 46 geothermal wells, each 150 m deep were drilled prior to construction (this is nearly 7 km of boreholes!).

As a special feature the heat accumulated during cooling operations in the summer is pumped back into the soil and can be used for heating in the winter.

Ventilation

Heating and cooling panels with radiation effect are suspended from the ceiling. A controlled ventilation system supplies fresh air, as the windows of the building cannot be opened.

Lighting

A total of almost 700 LED lighting elements were installed, which create extraordinary light effects. This artistic light installation uses a maximum of 1.4 kW, which is less electricity than is consumed by a commercial vacuum cleaner.

Power Tower - Internal Courtyard

Fact sheet

Gross floor space: 32,872 m² (incl. underground garage)

Façade surface: 11,620 m² (of this photovoltaic surface 637 m²)

Height of tower: 73 m

Number of floors in tower: 19

Number of floors in underground garage: 2

Number of garage parking spaces: 246

Maximum heating output: 700 kW

Maximum cooling output: 800 kW

Construction costs: €42 million euro (excludes sustainable energy grants)

Isabel Barros

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Category: Construction, Energy, Featured, Sustainability | Tags: Austria, Energy, Green design, Photovoltaic, Renewable, Sustainability

barros | January 25, 2012

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Renewable Energy Research Trip to Austria

Renewable Energy Targets 2020 Ireland Austria EU27

Last November I went on a research trip to Austria. The trip included a number of visits to factories from the Renewable Energy Sector and also to buildings with Passive House characteristics.

Austria is one of the world’s leaders in renewable energy and sustainability. And I was very well impressed with all the places we visited and the way Austria is developing their sustainability strategy.

Source: Eurostat

Austria generates 67% of its electricity from renewable sources. Ireland with its 14% is still a long way to go to catch this performance. That is why we can learn so much from the Austrian model.

The research trip included the visit to the following:

Power Tower (Passive House building)
SOLution Solartechnik (solar panels)
Fronius (solar inverters, battery charging systems)
Guntamatic (biomass boilers)
Neura (heat pumps)
Biomass Research Centre Bioenergy 2020+
Billa supermarket (Green building award)
Smart City Project Klosterneuburg
Energy Base (Passive house offices)

During 2012 I will try to post more details and photos of this trip. Watch this space!

Energy will continue to be a priority for the European Commission going forward and we all need to work together in order to be more energy efficient. Ireland has been progressing quite well and its capacity to deliver renewable electricity has continued to grow by an average of more than 150 MW per year.

The target for Ireland in the European Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) is a 16% share of renewable energy in gross final consumption by 2020. New and more strict regulations have been introduced in order to meet this target.

To learn more about Energy in Ireland click here to download the 2011 Report “Energy in Ireland 1990 – 2010″ published by SEAI.

Isabel Barros

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Category: Energy, Featured, Sustainability | Tags: Austria, Energy, Environment, Ireland, Renewable, SEAI, Sustainability

barros | November 17, 2011

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Hedonistic Sustainability: Your Best Christmas Gift

Bjarke Ingels’ presentation at Architectural Record’s Innovation Conference 2011 touches the new concept of Hedonistic Sustainability that Ingel’s office (BIG) has been exploring in a number of projects shown in this presentation.

The idea behind Hedonistic Sustainability is that architecture does not need to make a design sacrifice in order to be ecologically and economically conscientious.

The current way of thinking about sustainability incurs in undesired compromises that often start in the consumer’s pocket.

The approach to Hedonistic Sustainability supports that any strategies should be motivated by the desire for pleasure, increasing life quality and human enjoyment.

In order to complement this new ‘green concept’ Ingels says that architects need to become designers of ecosystems. I feel that architects have been designing ecosystems for a long time; the challenge is that we need to integrate many more resources these days.

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Category: Sustainability | Tags: Architects, Sustainability

barros | September 20, 2010

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Minimum Requirements of Energy to be Provided by Renewable Energy Technologies

In Ireland, Building Regulations set out the legal requirements for the design and construction of buildings.

Part L of the Building Regulations lays out the requirements regarding conservation of fuel and energy for dwellings.

The following represents the minimum requirements of energy to be provided by renewable energy technologies in new dwellings:

10 kWh/m2/annum contributing to energy use for domestic hot water heating, space heating or cooling, or
4 kWh/m2/annum of electrical energy, or
a combination of these which would have equivalent effect.

Understanding Renewable Energy – FAQ’s

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Category: Energy, Sustainability | Tags: Building Regulations, Energy, Environment, Ireland, Renewable, Sustainability

barros | March 11, 2010

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A Space for Learning in New Ross

I have been working with the Transition Year students of Our Lady of Lourdes School in New Ross, Wexford, to develop an idea for a new space for learning in their school.

“A Space for Learning” is a design ideas competition initiated by the Irish Architecture Foundation to challenge current thinking on school design and architecture.

The starting point for this project was a discussion of basic Architectural concepts. The students had the opportunity to identify a number of different concepts from architectural books and magazines.

Environmentally sustainable design

Sustainability was an integral part of the design process. A number of passive solar design concepts were approached and the proposal aims to get the most from direct, indirect and isolated solar gains, as well as natural lighting and natural ventilation.

Natural lighting is reflected into the classrooms by the use of light shelves, thus reducing the need for electricity.

The green roof provides increased insulation and works as a thermal mass.

The greenhouses, below the South facing classrooms, capture solar radiation that is converted into heat. This heat is directed into the classrooms through vents that can be closed during Summer time.

Rain water is captured, stored and re-used for toilet flushing and watering within the gardens and greenhouses.

A recycling point comprising of four Moloks ® will support the sustainability strategy while maintaining an attractive and hygienic environment.

Systems

The proposal aims to contribute to a reduced carbon footprint. To achieve this goal, different systems are proposed:

-two vertical wind turbines producing approx. 20,000kwh/year;

-twenty-three photovoltaic solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity

-a geothermal vertical system to power the underfloor heating.

An automated system provides a single point of control for lighting, heating, and cooling, for maximum efficiency. Each classroom operates independently, according to its designated schedule, so energy is not wasted in rooms that are not in use.

Exhibition

Between 5 and 10 selected groups will develop their design idea into an exhibition. Proposed ideas for the exhibition format had to be included in the submission.

Our final exhibition piece will allow visitors to experience the new building via a virtual world platform.

Visitors will be able to access the virtual model of our proposed building using a computer. They will be able to create their own avatar and tour around the proposed building. The software allows the same virtual world to be accessed by multiple visitors if more than one computer is available at the exhibition. It is also possible to continue this experience from the comfort of the visitor’s home, via the Internet.

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Visit the Facebook Page for this project: http://www.facebook.com/SpaceForLearningInNewRoss

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Category: Architecture, Sustainability | Tags: Architecture, Environment, green roof, greenhouse, Ireland, natural light, natural ventilation, New Ross, passive solar design, rainwater harvesting, School Design, Space for Learning, Sustainability, thermal mass, Wexford

barros | January 25, 2010

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Inspiring Construction with Plastic Bottles

These houses were built in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

The walls are built with plastic bottles, mortar, sand, clay, rubble, water and lots of community work. The concept is similar to the adobe construction technique.

The bottle walls are very strong and have also been used in Honduras and Bolivia to build water reservoirs for as much as 20.000 litres.

The bottles are filled with sand, soil or debris and are tied to each other with a nylon thread.