Solar energy harvest in the city

Seminar summer semester 2019

The European Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires "nearly zero energy buildings" for new buildings from 2020. The German government has drawn up a renovation roadmap for existing buildings, which is intended to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. In the medium to long term, solar energy should make a significant contribution to the generation of electricity and heat, especially in urban areas. However, the installation of photovoltaic and solar thermal surfaces on inner-city buildings is often hardly possible.

For this reason, this seminar will examine which areas in a city are available for a possible solar energy harvest and how a photovoltaic or solar thermal system could be installed on these areas. For example, it is conceivable to use supermarket roofs, parking areas, street spaces, streetcar lines, parts of industrial estates or similar areas in order to activate areas in the city for solar energy harvesting.

At the beginning of the seminar, several lectures introduce the topic. By analyzing a specific topic, the basics are then worked out in order to develop a constructional solution for a selected exemplary urban area. The aim is to develop a concept for a high-quality, yet cost-effective architectural solution to enable solar energy production in the city.

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