This is what net-positive glass buildings of the future will look like: and the breakthrough building material that’s making it happen today
Amber Gupta
Accredited Environmental and Sustainability Lead. Driving sustainability, renewables in the built environment
The latest annual sustainability report by RICS and the World Built Environment Forum reveals that the built environment is still not moving fast enough to decarbonise building stock. In a sector responsible for more than one-third of all emissions, where we have not yet minimised the impact of existing built, and where scores of new developments are soon to join the ranks (presumably to the tune of an equivalent New York City every month for the next 40 years), the prospect of net-zero is challenging to say the least.?
The impact of climate change is becoming seemingly obvious with dire and deadly extreme climate conditions such as wildfires, flooding, storms, and droughts that have already impacted millions of lives. The IPCC climate report reflects a "code red for humanity". The challenge of reducing our global emissions from 51 billion to zero is the "greatest challenge humankind has ever faced".?
Recently US climate envoy John Kerry said that solving climate change will require "technologies we don't yet have", which is true and certainly adds to the concern. It is also true that numerous market-ready sustainability breakthroughs that can transform industries are not always obvious to decision-makers. So, in this article, I wanted to share an innovation that is transforming the built environment from an energy perspective.?
The work I have been involved with within the built environment has given me optimism that technology and innovation can make a difference if we invent and deploy them fast enough. While many are still deliberating and actions are slow, things can still change. There is hope. At Onyx Solar Energy, I have been witnessing this first-hand.
Why We Must Think Vertical: A New Paradigm of Solar Renewable Energy
By 2050, 70% of the planet's population will be living in urban areas. How are we going to meet the energy demands of this booming population in our cities?
To tap into the most reliable and robust renewable energy source - the Sun, we have utilised solar panels effectively thus far. However, there are limitations, and only relying on land (solar farms) and building rooftops, many of which are unsuitable, offers limited opportunities. Mostly the challenge is where to put them as they render a space almost unusable. Also, some countries won't have enough land to be covered in enough solar panels to power the whole country; for example, Singapore requires 830%, Hong Kong 213% and Bahrain 156% of the land they have. (Source: Finder.com). As the cities get denser and energy demands increase, we need innovation.
?And we have a potential solution in plain sight if we look where we didn't look before.
We have vast building surfaces in the form of facades, curtain walls and windows. These vertical surfaces in our cities’ buildings have remained unused, with little to no contribution to solving the climate challenge. What if we could utilise these surfaces to harvest solar renewable energy to unlock their full potential – turning from net users to net producers of energy??
Whatever the future buildings may look like, whether floating in the sky or constructed by AI, one thing is for sure; they must be entirely energy sufficient. Given the need of the hour, not utilising the immense vertical building surfaces to our advantage is not an option. It will be unsustainable to keep building our future cities and only rely on far afield solar farms to power them.
?We have not had the right technology to make this happen until now.?
"Most Innovative Glass": A Breakthrough Engineering
In 2015 a breakthrough building material received the "Most Innovative Glass" award from the National Association of Glass in the United States and the Association of Doors and Windows Dealers at the prestigious Glass Magazine Awards. This building material has now been used in more than 350 projects globally.
While we are solving the cement problem and the steel problem, there is glass. An Urban Green Council (UGC) report states that "today's glass building envelopes will contribute to carbon emissions long into the future unless we curb our appetite for them". Today we have high-performance glass available in the marketplace, providing better insulation and daylighting to reduce energy loads and offering optimum energy performance.?
But given the current crisis, can we do any better??
Introducing Onyx Solar transparent photovoltaic (PV) architectural glass for buildings, transforming city skyscrapers into giant vertical solar panels. Unlike anything that has gone before, we can now tap into a building's fa?ade, curtain walls, windows, and skylights as a solar energy harvesting array.?
At Onyx Solar, we have perfected a new category of building material that bridges the gap between architectural glass and renewable energy harvesting solar panels. Now we can build beautiful looking?glass buildings and tall skyscrapers that are future-proof?– with the ability to generate their own energy without comprising aesthetics and energy performance.?
Image: Think Vertical: A new paradigm in solar renewable energy for the built environment
The futuristic idea of generating energy from a building’s walls and windows is no longer science fiction. Consistent innovation has enabled Onyx Solar Energy to offer a unique solution unlike anything available in the marketplace with projects in 50 countries covering all industries (Government, Healthcare, Commercial, Transportation, Retail, Corporate and Education) and building types. In summary:?
CASE STUDIES: Transforming Glass Buildings from Net-Users of Energy to Net-Producers
The Onyx Solar PV glass is 100% customisable and works well in ambient light, making it an excellent choice for small residential projects as well as city skyscrapers.?In the following section, I have provided a few case studies covering various applications that can use PV glass:
1. A skyscraper in a European capital city district uses our photovoltaic glass on its fa?ade as spandrel to generate free and clean solar renewable energy that can power 300 average residential homes, reducing the building's energy consumption from the grid significantly, with 65% of its energy coming from renewables - quoted in the media as "next-generation green buildings".?
Image: GIOIA 22 Tower, Milan, Italy; Design by Pelli Clark Pelli Architects: Photovoltaic fa?ade as spandrel, producing enough energy to power 300 average residential homes. Also called "shard of glass" - the first building of this size in Italy designed and constructed according to Near Zero Energy Building standards (NZEB).??
2. The glass performs well in ambient light, making it an excellent choice for our cities, including this project in an office facility in London using PV glass skylight.
Image: Chancery Lane, London: A photovoltaic skylight was an optimal choice for this office building project, providing protection against the sun, and generating power, while improving the aesthetic appearance.?
3. A renowned pharmaceutical company uses photovoltaic skylights instead of ordinary glazing in their iconic HQ project, receiving the best Regional Project award by ENR.?
Image: Novartis Pharmaceutical HQ, New Jersey, USA; Design BY Rafael Vi?oly: Photovoltaic skylight, measuring 2,500 m2 (26,909 sq. ft) with a power capacity of 340 Wp, generates over 273,000 kWh per year, reducing nearly 185 tons of CO2 emissions?
4. Iconic glass buildings in the Middle East (Dubai) uses coloured photovoltaic glass on their fa?ade that enhances the architectural look and generates free and clean energy from the sun.
Image: Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) R&D Centre/ Dubai Frame, Dubai: Both structures are using highly innovative coloured photovoltaic fa?ades developed to meet the project needs, allowing these buildings to generate energy without compromising aesthetics and energy performance.
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5. A university building uses more than 1000 sqm of photovoltaic glass fa?ade to create a unique and striking look for the building that is also highly sustainable and future-proof.
Image: Cyprus International University: The Science and Technology Centre is a unique project that houses the largest BIPV system in Cyprus. The crystalline silicon facade installation of around 1,000 m2 is going to reduce HVAC energy demands by almost 43% with an IRR of less than three years.?
6. An award-winning office building uses a photovoltaic curtain wall to reduce emissions and energy demand and maximises on-site renewable energy generation.
Image: Culver City Creative (C3), Design BY GENSLER: An award-winning project that integrates a photovoltaic curtain wall of 743 m2 (8,000 sq. ft). This aesthetic architectural solution will generate 30,976 kWh and will prevent the release of 20,754 Kg of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.?
7. A renowned sports facility in the USA becomes the first sports facility to receive Gold recertification thanks to the LEED points secured due to the use of Onyx Solar PV glass.
Image: NBA Miami Heat Stadium, USA: Also known as the “American Airlines Arena”, used circular photovoltaic skylights preventing the release of 20 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributed to becoming the first sports and entertainment centre to obtain the LEED Gold recertification. Received Global Venture – Annual Awards 2018, and Most Innovative Photovoltaic Glass Project 2016 by Build Magazine.
All the above projects have been incredible success stories for our clients and the environment. Standard glazing couldn't have achieved such results. While many architects are moving away from glass, Onyx Solar PV glazing offers a new way to build future-proof glass buildings because self-sufficient buildings from an energy point of view are critical in our fight against climate change.
CASE STUDIES: How to Decarbonise Existing Building Stock
8. The world's top FMCG brand faced a challenge to reduce their heavy dependency on fossil fuels at one of their bottling plants. The Onyx Solar retrofit photovoltaic second-skin fa?ade offered the perfect solution, reducing energy intensity by 35%. A combination of energy generation from the facade, PV glass insulation properties, and local tax benefits delivered an economic benefit that no investor can say no to – a staggering 55% Internal Rate of Return with less than one year payback period.
Image: Coca-Cola/FEMSA bottling plant, Mexico: The photovoltaic second-skin facade brings the existing building to the net-zero economy reducing 11Tons of CO2 emissions. The installation didn't require stripping from the existing fabric of the building or vacating it.
9. An asset owner undertook major renovation work to bring a 1950s building to the net-zero economy. The project utilises a photovoltaic curtain wall to reduce the building's energy intensity.taci
Image: Freedom Building, Paris; Asset Owner: SCI Amiral Bruix - AXA Real Estate: The renovation incorporates a PV facade, providing it with optimal electrical efficiency and sustainability.
10. Showcasing how residential projects are taking advantage of photovoltaic glass in new development and retrofit cladding of existing buildings that provide best-rated fire safety.
Image: Residential buildings: Facade cladding that meets both goals - generates renewable energy, while offering the highest rated fire safety.
11. The image below showcases two iconic projects from the USA and Canada.?
Image: Bell Works & Edmonton Convention Centre: The atrium of the two-million-square-foot facility renovation project at Bell Works facility in Holmdel, NJ houses 60,000 sq. ft of PV glass skylights, the largest of its kind in the USA. Also, the Edmonton Convention Centre now has the largest PV skylight of its kind in Canada. They are transparent, allowing natural light to come into the building, and offering climate insulation in extreme temperatures.
Savvy Financial Investment
While ROI and payback are critical to all decision-making, this shouldn't be the only factor in environmental sustainability because decarbonising has numerous added benefits. However, the good news is that Onyx Solar glass is not only an investment towards a more sustainable future, but it is also a wise financial investment offering attractive payback periods. Whether it's sunny Spain or not so sunny Canada, implementations in five continents have proven that this building material makes economic sense for our clients.
Here are some of the key benefits of using photovoltaic glass:
?What LEDs have done for energy-efficient lighting; Onyx Solar PV glass has done for sustainable building development.?Indeed, glass is greener on the cutting-edge.
Conclusion
In the coming months, organisations across the globe will deliver numerous building projects thinking that they have done their best, but a significant environmental potential will remain untapped. For example, estimation shows that the iconic?Shard?in London, a building that can't take advantage of rooftop solar panels, could have generated enough clean (and free) electricity from its photovoltaic facade to offset more than 30% of the building's electricity consumption, reduce more than 1400 tCO2 emissions each year, and potentially lower energy costs by more than 45%.
To explore the opportunity for your next project, get in touch to receive a free project assessment with complete feasibility data (including technology specs, energy generation, investment, ROI, and payback periods).
Any building surface can now become an energy-producing array. This breakthrough approach complements conventional solar panels that the combination can help us excel towards net-positive buildings.?In the wake of the energy crisis in the UK, with predictions of record-high energy pricing that may even lead to factory shutdowns, the volatility of the energy supply chain and pricing gives us more reasons to build much needed robust and reliable?decentralised renewable energy solutions embedded in our buildings?– whether new development or existing stocks.
I'd love to hear from you. To find more information visit https://www.onyxsolar.com/projects.?