Solar Façade to make high rise building fully carbon negative

Image credit: https://www.kennon.com.au/

We do have fully solar powered houses and buildings but here is a live high rise building project under implementation which will be fully powered by its façade solar panels which don’t in any way look like the normal shiny solar panels at all. They are perfectly aesthetically pleasing and blend with the architecture of the building. This is possible if the panels are integrated as a part of the project from ground up stage of the project and the solar power is not brought in as an afterthought.

The project has been undertaken in Melbourne, Australia by architectural design firm Studio Kennen. The idea relies on the concept of integrating thin film solar panels inside the conventional normal thickness façade glass panels which are being developed by the German company Avancis and are available in various colors from dark gray to deep blue. A total of 1182 such panels will be deployed. There will be enough local solar power generation for the building’s power needs and there will be additional solar power generation on the roof top. Some areas of the façade are of darker shade to yield benefit in the AC load.

The building will be carbon negative thereby making the whole project including the construction carbon footprint cumulatively negative in a few years after commissioning.

This is a showcase modern nonresidential building project in sustainability. The market for such projects is estimated as over USD 100 billion by 2023.

we are seeing some truly ground-breaking sustainable buildings lately including plans for a zero-energy museum in South Korea and plans for a sustainable urban village in Scotland.

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Arun Bhatia

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