LARGE AREA FLUIDIC WINDOWS

ended

An important target of Europe 2020 is climate change and energy sustainability. To reach the ambitious aims, it is necessary to improve the energy performance of buildings in operation. Embodied energy in materials presents a high percentage of the energy spent in the whole life cycle of a building, so new materials are needed. Therefore we will develop within this project a novel material solution for ultra-efficient solar energy harvesting and heat exchange through an active building envelope. We thereby address the two technical applications of windows and facades, into which we will implement LARGE AREA FLUIDIC WINDOWS (LaWin). LaWin represents the vision of large-area microfluidic windows and facade elements which are based on four types of new materials: low-cost thin and strong cover glasses, microstructured rolled glasses of architectural quality, a glass-glass compound comprising microfluidic channels and a heat storage liquid designed for transparency and/or active functionality in facade and window implementation. LaWin devices will be designed to build on existing platforms and geometries used in triple glazing and facade elements to enable rapid market access and acceptance. Expected impacts: - Reduction of embodied energy and CO2 to 0 for window surfaces after four months of using (possible because of using regenerative energy with windows for climatisation of buildings, high insulation) - Reduction of at least 123 000 t CO2 per year for heating (goal: at least 2% of window furnaces in Europe) - Improving thermal insulation figures for window surfaces by at least 20% - Reduction of total costs-Purchase price is higher, but running costs are really low - Demonstration of at least a 10% reduction of the energy spent during the whole life cycle of a building; - strengthen competitiveness for all project partners - Clear and transparent information to facilitate better decision making - High quality and environmentally friendly alternative for the build