Fabio Favoino

Jorge Corker

Mizi Fan

Shahaboddin Resalati

Stefano Fantucci

English

PORTO@iris (Publications Open Repository TOrino - Politecnico di Torino)

16 July 2022POLITECNICO DI TORINORepository ISTITUZIONALEH2020 Powerskin+: Carbon-neutral non-residential buildings / Favoino, Fabio; Fantucci, Stefano; Resalati, Shahaboddin;Fan, Mizi; Corker, Jorge. - In: OPEN ACCESS GOVERNMENT. - ISSN 2516-3817. - ELETTRONICO. - 29:(2021), pp.406-407.OriginalH2020 Powerskin+: Carbon-neutral non-residential buildingsPublisher:PublishedDOI:Terms of use:openAccessPublisher copyright(Article begins on next page)This article is made available under terms and conditions as specified in the  corresponding bibliographic description inthe repositoryAvailability:This version is available at: 11583/2860019 since: 2021-01-15T15:31:09ZADJACENT DIGITAL POLITICS LIMITEDThe building sector is targeting increasingly stringent carbon emission reduction measures throughout its entire life cycle, intend-ing to minimise its potential impact on climate change. Non-residential build-ings account for 25% of the European building stock and are responsible for more than 60% of all building energy end-uses. The energy and carbon  savings that can be derived from this sector are therefore considerable. Adopting a ‘fabric-first’ approach, including improving U-values and  air-tightness, is a first important step towards achieving the required energy savings. As a result, technologies improving insulation performance without reducing the internal living areas can yield promising results in terms of energy, space-saving and, thus, a return of the investment shorter than a typical façade service life (25-30 years). This is particularly significant in heating-dominated locations, where high rental values can outweigh the higher capital costs, as demonstrated while using Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIP) as an energy-efficiency solution. Tertiary buildings pose additional chal-lenges to the facade, including high occupant comfort requirements, high solar and internal gains, due to highly glazed façades and densely occupied spaces. Cost-effective and energy-effi-cient façade solutions are therefore proven to be more challenging to achieve, as the building envelope may have a lower impact on total energy uses (including heating, cooling and lighting) compared to occupant environmental comfort. This can negatively impact the cost payback within the façade service life, as the reduction of energy cost alone is not able to offset the cost of the façade refurbishment (Figure 1 shows this for a façade refurbishment of a tertiary  building in Torino, Italy). In addition, embodied energy is being gradually regulated across Europe. Some examples are given by the cur-rent French and Belgian legislation, which are moving to mandate the consideration of embodied energy and the disclosure of Environmental Product Declarations for construction materials. For any energy payback analysis to be truly representative of a sustainable approach, a combined operational and embodied energy analysis needs to be adopted. Whilst considering incremental increases in building envelope properties for reducing the operational energy of buildings, factoring embodied energy into a combined analysis tends to limit the minimum energy levels that can be achieved. A combined method limits the fabric-first approach to  optimum U-value ranks, beyond which embodied energy investment out-weighs operational energy savings. Future policy developments demand novel façade solutions that can cost-effectively optimise better energy per-formance and occupant comfort with lower embodied energy investments. Achieving strict energy efficiency stan-dards requires adopting advanced and high-performance technologies such as off-site manufacturing, renewable energy conversion technologies, and dynamic and smart materials. Never-theless, current high-performance façade systems, such as Double Skin and Advanced Integrated Façades, have been associated with several drawbacks, including i) low thermal inertia that creates a negative impact on heat fluxes exchanged between the outdoor and indoor, ii) excessive trans-parent area and, iii) heavily dependent on modular design implementation. Within this context, next-generation façade solutions are required to go beyond the “energy conservation approach”, by considering not only energy but also carbon neutrality, occupant comfort and space value. Here we learn about Powerskin+, advanced next-generation multifunctional building skins for energy and carbon-neutral non-residential buildings Fabio Favoino1, Stefano Fantucci1, Shahaboddin Resalati2, Mizi Fan3, Jorge Corker4,* 1 Technology Energy Building Environment research group, Energy Department, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129, Torino, Italy 2 Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, OX3 0BP, Oxford, UK 3 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom 4 IPN- Instituto Pedro Nunes, Rua Pedro Nunes, 3030-199, Coimbra, Portugal, email: jcorker@ipn.pt * corresponding author H2020 Powerskin+: Carbon-neutral non-residential buildings406PROFILEPOWERSKIN PLUS POWERSKIN PLUS is developing and scaling-up eco-innovative and cost-effective curtain wall façade solutions, both for new and renovated buildings. Its multifunctional façade systems incorporate the latest materials sci-ence and renewable energy technolog-ical developments, offering a unique solution to meet the requirements of nearly zero-energy buildings(nZEB) and Positive Energy Buildings (PEB). The system currently being developed aims at providing the market with effective and high performance “plug-and-play” modular kits, covering ther-mal insulation, energy harvesting and energy storing, compatible with high-throughput window/façade design and assembly technologies (Figure 2).  Highly focused on the renovation market and by following the systematic and in-depth assessment of relevant technical parameters, POWERSKIN PLUS sets out a comprehensive work programme, covering an extensive list of activities, from lab testing to system design prototyping. The development includes several breakthrough features based on nano-formulated VIP, phase change materials (PCM), ground-break-ing flexible thin perovskite solar cells and multifunctional nano-enabled coatings. The full POWERSKIN PLUS portfolio will comprise prefabricated and ‘easy-to-install’ modular glazing and opaque elements, sustainable eco-designed connecting framings, and a dedicated large capacity electric building storage system driven from second-life electric vehicle Li-ion  batteries. This approach will benefit from the smart integration of highly insulative climatic control panels, with renewable on-site energy generation and storage components, along with dynamic and passive elements capable of minimising energy demand and maximising indoor environmental quality, all delivered by a single full combined solution.  Starting from TRL5 technology, the ultimate objective of the 4-year pro-ject is to generate a set of POWERSKIN PLUS hybrid-enabled system proto-types, and test them in an operational environment (TRL7) in Portugal, Slove-nia and the Czech Republic, treading the path for future exploitation and supporting the most desired EU tran-sition to plus energy and carbon-neu-tral building standards. POWERSKIN PLUS – Highly advanced modular integration of insulation, energising and storage systems for non-residential buildings.Jorge Corker POWERSKIN PLUS Project Coordinator Instituto Pedro Nunes Portugal Tel: +351 239 700 968 jcorker@ipn.pt www.ipn.pt407PROFILEThis project has received funding from the European Union’s Hori-zon 2020 research and innova-tion programme under grant agreement No 869898.Figure 1 - Primary total energy saving (heating, cooling and lighting) and related 30-year net present value for façade refurbishment strategies for office buildings in Torino, ItalyFigure 2 – POWERSKIN PLUS approach for curtain walls combining a wide number of state-of-the-art energy-efficient materials, energy harvesting solutions and energy storage technologies Click to enlargeClick to enlarge

H2020 Powerskin+: Carbon-neutral non-residential buildings

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H2020 Powerskin+: Carbon-neutral non-residential buildings

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