The US Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory (NREL) has modeled the advantages of PV in extremely glazed skyscrapers.
From pv magazine USA
Tall, windowed skyscrapers loom over many main metropolitan areas. These extremely glazed buildings usually are not significantly environment friendly, however newly printed analysis in One Earth reveals that PV home windows may also help significantly.
“There are preconceived notions of what an energy-efficient constructing appears to be like like, and it normally will not be extremely glazed, and it in all probability isn’t very tall,” stated Lance Wheeler, a scientist at NREL. “We discovered that there are different methods to construct high-efficiency buildings.”
Wheeler developed PVWindow, a brand new sort of open-source software program on GitHub, to mannequin the impression of the expertise. In a report, he and his colleagues describe the constructing design guidelines that would result in “net-zero” and even “net-positive” vitality consumption.
Skyscrapers usually have a excessive ratio of window to wall. For instance, the 1915 Equitable Constructing in New York, has a window-to-wall ratio of 25%. This compares to the Financial institution of America Tower of 2016, which has a of 71% window-to-wall ratio.
The researchers modeled a window-to-wall ratio of 95% to show the impression glazing has on constructing vitality efficiency. In addition they discovered that triple-paned home windows are extremely efficient in decreasing vitality use.
“Image a skyline in, like, New York Metropolis the place there are these high-rise buildings which are fully glass,” stated Wheeler. “They’re absolutely glazed. The Freedom Tower has tens of millions of sq. toes of glass. It might be an influence plant in itself.”
In January, building-integrated PV specialist Ubiquitous Vitality announced the closing of a $30 million Sequence B funding spherical.
