9th International ENERGY FORUM opens in Bressanone, Italy

How buildings change their skin: new Swiss ideas changing our urban scene 28 Oct 14. Bressanone, Italy. One of the highlights of the first day of the 9th ENERGY FORUM conference on the building skins of the future (Advanced Building Skins) was the presentation of white photovoltaic modules for façades. Jordi Escarre Palou and his team from the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology CSEM in Neuchâtel presented white solar modules with efficiency levels over 10% to the 250 participants in the Bressanone conference centre in South Tyrol.

Escarre Palou says that in principle all the usual solar cells can be used for this. "We achieve the highest efficiency level through a combination of crystalline high-performance solar cells with a film treated using nanotechnology, which only filters a particular wavelength of light through to the cell and reflects the visible spectrum as a diffuse illumination,"Escarre Palou explained in Bressanone on Tuesday. The result is a homogenous white solar module surface without a visible wafer structure;
the module looks like a large white sheet of paper with a protective glass surface. In addition to the architectural functions, these cells can be used in the entire range of consumer goods: motor vehicles, computers, even furniture, household goods and floor tiles can carry invisible photovoltaic cells.

White modules can help photovoltaics break through in architecture

However, the architectural aspects of the modules were the focus in Bressanone: since white modules heat up less easily, the problem of rear ventilation is reduced. In hot regions – often dominated by white buildings – these modules can be more easily integrated into the building envelope. "This technology can also be produced in many other shades such as silver or grey, as well as in various colours," said industry designer Patrick Heinstein from the PV laboratory of the EPFL in Neuchâtel, who advised the CSEM team in the development for questions of production aesthetics. The modules will already be on sale in 2015. "I find white modules very progressive," says architect René Schmid from Zürich. He welcomes the extension of the colour palette by the CSEM innovation, observing, "This is a step in the right direction that will ensure that more buildings will be equipped with photovoltaics."

Architectural Award for building-integrated solar technology

René Schmid was awarded the Architecture Prize for building-integrated solar technology in Bressanone. This prize is awarded every three years by the Bavarian Association for the Promotion of Solar Energy for exceptional planning and design of building-integrated solar power
systems. René Schmid enriched the prism-shaped roof of the Environmental Arena (Umweltarena) at Spreitenbach, near Zürich, with numerous differently-angled segments carrying photvoltaic modules. "We have used photovoltaics as a construction product in the Environmental Arena," says Schmid. The 5,400 square metre large photovoltaic modules of the futuristic solar roof generate 750 kW.
The Association for the Promotion of Solar Energy also awarded five merit prizes, of which three were also given to Swiss architects and one each to projects in Paris and Munich. The architects of Richter Dahl Rocha & Associés Architectes, Lausanne achieved an architecturally attractive integration of photovoltaics in their design of the SwissTech Convention Centre on the EPFL Lausanne Campus. The architects arranged 300 square metres of coloured cells in narrow strips of yellow, green and red
shades outside the glass front of the western façade (see photograph).
These do not just provide sun protection but produce delightful light effects in the foyer. "The photovoltaics are achieving four services simultaneously," says Kenneth Ross, project leader at Richter Dahl Rocha.
"They implement the technology developed at the EPFL, i.e. the owner of the building; provide shade; contribute aesthetic enrichment; and generate energy as well." Further merit awards went to the Swiss architect Alex Buob for the Catholic Church in Heiden and the architect Mirlo Urbano for a single family house in Glattfelden; both projects
included a solar roof.

The 10th ENERGY FORUM will be held in Switzerland

Immediately after the prize awards, the CEO of the Economic Forum and organiser of the ENERGY FORUM, Andreas Karweger, announced that one of these prize-winning buildings can be visited next year during the 10th ENERGY FORUM. For the 10th anniversary of the conference, the ENERGY FORUM will be held for the first time in Switzerland. The organisers hope to improve the accessibility of the conference with the new location in Switzerland. "A connection to international airports is very important for our participants, who are travelling from over 50 countries," says Andreas Karweger, CEO of the Economic Forum in Munich. The new location will be announced in November.

The table of content of the conference documentation can be downloaded here:
www.energy-forum.com/fileadmin/content-2014.pdf
All presentations are in English. Upon request, journalists will receive the full conference documentation (PDF of 154 MB).

Download of photographs in high resolution:
www.umweltarena.ch/photogallerie/aussenansicht-umwelt-arena/
www.flickr.com/photos/122002529@N03/sets/72157643250957845
The ENERGY FORUM on Advanced Building Skins has been held each year in Bressanone, Italy since 2006. The conference is intended to promote exchanges between architects, engineers, scientists and manufacturers and thereby contribute to an interdisciplinary planning approach. The main objective is the reduction of the energy usage of buildings.
The organiser of the ENERGY FORUM is the Economic Forum of Munich.
Contact:
ECONOMIC FORUM
Landsberger Str. 155
D-80687 Munich
Germany
Tel: +49 89-200 004-161
info@economic-forum.eu
www.energy-forum.com
CSEM - Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique
Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology