ENergy harVesting by Invisible Solar IntegratiON in building skins

Project Information

Envision

Grant agreement ID: 767180

DOI

10.3030/767180

Project closed

EC signature date 10 July 2017

Start date 1 October 2017

End date 30 September 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced manufacturing and processing

Total cost

€ 5 981 315,54

EU contribution

€ 4 900 312,52

Coordinated by

NEDERLANDSE ORGANISATIE VOOR TOEGEPAST NATUURWETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK TNO
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - Envision (ENergy harVesting by Invisible Solar IntegratiON in building skins)

Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2022-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ENVISION demonstrates a full renovation concept that harvests thermal and electric energy from all the available building surfaces by using PV solutions for roof and new solutions for the façade.
These technologies have multiple application potential and are tested in different building typologies to answer to a multilayered type of consumers. The solutions collect solar energy and simultaneously valorize the aesthetic and functional properties of the façade, while being integrated in novel heat systems and district heat networks to maximize the efficiency of the collected energy.

ENVISION focused on innovative technologies and low impact solutions for buildings full renovation concepts. The developed technology invisibly harvests energy from all available surfaces, including windows and facades. The project designed, developed and validated technologies that are able to create energy positive buildings capable to generate more energy than their consumption. These innovations provide photovoltaic (PV) solutions for roofs and new thermal and electrical energy harvesting modules for the building façade. The ENVISION façade technologies focus on the absorption of an important, but invisible part of the solar radiation (the Near InfraRed – NIR). They have been installed at demo sites located in different geographical areas, subjected to a variable climate condition, like the Netherlands, Austria and Italy. The challenging aspects of the project are related to the climate adaptation of the solutions, involvement of citizens within the program for a layered type of consumers, such that social housing occupants, residential solutions, etc. The innovation supported by the project well adapts to the historical context where it is always more difficult to find resources for heating and cooling and buildings retrofit to favor energy efficiency buildings. The ENVISION technologies are cost competitive, easy to install and manage, without affecting the building aesthetics. The ENVISION project has created energy positive buildings. This in turn will contribute to fulfilling the EU 2030 renewable energy ambitions and meeting targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project innovations have been designed, installed and tested in different European geographical areas to demonstrate the adaptability of the technologies with respect to the solar radiation exposure and variable climate conditions. Furthermore, the project involved different technological solutions for opaque and transparent surfaces, i.e. heat harvesting façade elements, PV glasses and smart windows. Hence, the solutions were tested in different building types, such as residential and commercial ones. The ENVISION concept consists of a fourfold approach, starting with the design and validation of heat harvesting technologies for façades consisting of aesthetical solutions capable of absorbing the invisible part or the solar spectrum (roughly 50% of the total solar radiation). Secondly, the mounting procedure of the modular façade elements (novel “click on” mounting system) was optimized. Thirdly, to efficiently use the ENVISION energy harvesting building skin, an adaptive, model-based energy control system was developed to enable the interaction among the different energy systems at both building and district network level. In the last step, the full demonstration and validation of the technologies was performed. The full-scale demonstration consisted of deep renovation of row dwellings in Helmond and Eindhoven (Netherlands); the performance and coupling of the ENVISION solutions to district heating networks was demonstrated in Genova (Italy), followed by the design and optimization of business models.

Workpackage descriptions and main activities:
WP.1 ENVISION Technology and Project Roadmap:
Detailing the plan for the harvesting technologies development and demonstration
WP.2 R&D of RES harvesting façade elements:
- Co-development and testing of NIR absorbing & colored coatings for heat harvesting façade
- Development towards colored glazing to be used façade integrated solar collectors
- Development PV Solar Harvesting Glass
WP.3 Towards full ENVISION renovation concept and energy system:
- Development RES harvesting via integration of harvesting elements
- Development full renovation concept
- Development monitoring and maintenance plans of the system
WP.4 Integration and interaction of technologies to district network:
- Modelling energy performances at building and district level
WP.5 Demonstration, Energy performance, monitoring and validation:
- Northern and Southern Europe Demonstration
- Global Environmental and energy efficiency assessment
- Practices and Measures for the Upscale and Replication
WP 6. Dissemination and Exploitation:
- Demonstration site-level Economic impact assessment
- Evaluation of wider European-level energy and economic impact
- Replication Strategy
- Business models and plan
- Dissemination
WP 7. Project Management:
- Scientific and Technical Coordination

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The buildings industrial sector is the first economic sector in the construction market, as construction and refurbishment activities account for 85% of the total construction sector output. It represents about 7 % of the EU28 non-financial business economy and provides 11.5 million direct jobs (about 8.8% of total employment in the nonfinancial business economy). Furthermore, the built environment affects the life and work of all EU-citizens. The construction sector has a crucial impact on the EU environment and energy policies as buildings use 40 % of total EU energy consumption and are responsible for 36% of Green-House Gases in Europe, while the replacement rate of the existing stock is still small, which requires an ambitious path for existing buildings deep energy renovation. The building sector is on the critical path to decarbonize the European economy by 2050 in line with the Energy Union Strategy. To achieve this objective, buildings shall reduce CO2 emissions by 90% and its energy consumption by as much as 50%. ENVISION demonstrates an integrated renovation action by exploiting the whole available surface of a building for hybrid (thermal and electric) energy harvesting (vertical/horizontal, transparent/opaque). Until now, façades have remained largely unused. By implementing the ENVISION technologies, up to 100% energy can be saved; 20GJ/y energy savings for heating and 3000kWh/y electricity savings per dwelling can be achieved.

The ENVISION technology is capable to achieve a yearly saving of 568m3 of natural gas and avoiding 10 tCO2 emissions per dwelling. The decrease of primary energy consumption, the increase of RES and the increasing of the efficiency of the envelope contributes to save natural gas and reduce the environmental impact of the buildings. The ENVISION façade and resulting renovation concept will be cost-efficient (payback < 15 years) and allows quick retrofitting solution for envelopes (< 2 days). Considering a traditional building energy retrofit, of the integration of the ENVISION thermal collectors would increase the investment cost of ca. 250 €/m2, allowing an annual energy saving of ~1.9 GJ/m2y averagely. This way, the integrated solution could have payback period of less than 3 years (not considering the investment for the installation). The heat harvesting panels will be commercially exploited via the joint venture “Calosol” (Calosol | Emergo).

ENVISION Uncovered colored green, yellow and orange colletors