Skip to content
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Homepage HZB Science Blog
Science at HZBblog
Primary Navigation Menu
Menu
  • About us
  • → Campus blog

Solar cities: feasible but not yet realised

By: Antonia Roetger
On: 2018-03-23
In: Conference, Energymaterials
Tagged: Society, Sustainability, Workshop

At the Interdisciplinary conference on „INNOVATION IN SOLAR BUILDING SKINS & ENERGY EFFICIENCY TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CITIES”, 19th to 20th march in Berlin, experts from the building sector, politics, finance and photovoltaics discussed why Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) is not already more widely applied in buildings (see also HZB-webinfo ) and what innovations are still needed.

Statements from participants of the conference:

Philippe Macé, Bequerel Institute Belgium: “BIPV has been slow to develop but now I am more optimistic since EU regulation such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive with NZEB requirements will increase the interest for BIPV solutions. In addition, these solutions are now cheaper thanks to steep cost reductions of PV components, and we see finally some standards being developed for BIPV.”

And Sierra Cobb, architect, COSA points out:” It was interesting to see people from multiple sectors – communications, PV products, architecture, real estate, and politics – discuss the direction of BIPV. We are interested in the latest technological innovations, thus this interdisciplinary dialog is essential.”

 

Bianca Lim, ISFH: „I was surprised how nearly all speakers stressed the point that now legislative measures are needed. Because BIPV solutions do exist in lighthouse projects but to implement them massively, support is essential.”
Susanne Rexroth, HTW Berlin: „We need to know more precisely how cost evaluations are done and which costs will be added for maintenance in the future. At my university we are starting now a research project on BIPV, and here I got an overview on the state of the art.”

Lighthouse projects show what is possible

Impressive projects by architects and engineering offices demonstrate what can be done already: Elegant modern buildings with solar facades and solar active materials for windows, pavements or other surfaces do not only provide energy and mitigate climate change, but bring also great living comfort. One example is the Efficiency House Plus in Berlin.  

Solutions are there

A wide range of products is already available on the market: Colorful glasses with different degrees of transparency allow architects to choose according to aesthetic requirements. But still, the implementation of Building integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) on a massive scale is very slow.  

Barriers and Drivers for BIPV

Among the barriers for massive implementation of BIPV are low oil and gas prices, real estate speculation but most importantly slow adaption of legislation, mentioned by Claude Turmes, member of the European Parliament. “Germany fails to comply with EU legislation on Near Zero Emission Buildings”, Turmes warned and stressed the necessity to mitigate climate change. But there are also potential drivers: further sinking costs for PV components, rising corporate social responsibility and the awareness that modern solutions could add more than just energy, e.g. comfort, air quality and design.

Offering solutions for different needs

Architect Hille Bekic, Architektenkammer Berlin, stressed the point that solutions are needed not only for new buildings and big investors but as well for older buildings and for private house owners.

Just start now

And Carolien Gehrels, Arcadis, a former vice mayor of Amsterdam said: “Having been a politician, my advice is: don’t expect politicians to have more courage than their voters.”


On twitter, the conference was documented with #BIPVinnovation.

 

 

2018-03-23
Previous Post: “Bethe strings” experimentally observed for the first time
Next Post: Materials scientist Manuela Klaus uses high tech methods to study samples from industry

Follow Us

Keywords

#BESSYBeamlinePortraits Accelerator Physics atomic physics BESSY II BESSY VSR careers communication Condensed Matter Cooperation corona Culture dipcoating electron capture Energymaterials Europe Fuel Cells Health international exchange internships Life Mobility Nanomaterials Perovskite Lab Perovskites Phase Transitions PhD PhDlife physics Programming protein crystallography quantum research scientist solar cells Solar Fuels student Students Summer Summer Project summerstudents supervisor switching synchrotron Undulator Workshop

Recent posts HZBblog Science

  • Beyond research: Capturing science through illustrations 2023-02-08
  • Highlight of the year 2022: What do the numbers say? 2022-12-22
  • One week for four problems – 2022 Hackathon@HZB 2022-11-29

Recent Comments

  • Matt Mayer on Summer students @HZB – a restart of a great programme
  • Silvia on Why Is Berlin a City With an AMAZING Public Transport ?
  • Silvia on How Rough Plans yield the most Concrete Outcomes
  • Arshia on Life Beyond Fears
  • Ana on Life Beyond Fears

Archives

New on HZBblog campus

  • Kinder sind voll mein Ding

  • Freier Kopf und volle Konzentration – eine Chemikerin musiziert im Orchester

  • Jennifer Bierbaum unterstützt “Kinder lesen Katzen vor”

Related Posts

Users at BESSY II: Nafion, the talented membrane for fuel cells and 4D-printing
“Bethe strings” experimentally observed for the first time
Ten hundred words challenge
Summer school on solar cells: QUANTSOL 2022

Links

Contribution feed (RSS)
Comments as RSS

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin

Imprint, Data protection
www.helmholtz-berlin.de

Logo Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin