Europe’s endeavor to reduce carbon emissions and develop the environment is well known. With so much environmental degradation, there’s an urgent need to put things back to how they were. The country of Germany is busy working toward this aim by enforcing norms and policies to revert current trends. The Internationale Bauausstellung is a site used to exhibit buildings and serve as a place for a seven year real time research and development project looking to come up with a plan for a carbon neutral city development. The IBA_Dock or the information center is what’s caught our attention with its renewable energy technologies and floating pontoon base.
The 13,454 sq ft pontoon has been made out of steel and houses modular superstructures that aim to find solar energy management systems and those that provide heating and cooling facilities the whole year round. The structures themselves feature 16 rooftop solar thermal collectors covering an area of 366 sq ft. They face the south at an angle of 50 degrees to harness as much heat as possible during winter.
Energy absorbed from the sun through the collectors is passed to an electric heat pump, which draws water from the Elbe through a heat transformer that’s built on the pontoon. The system takes care of the heating and cooling requirements of the structures with no need for conventional ACs and heating units. Surplus energy is stored for later use. What’s more, the structures are fitted with heating and cooling ceilings to heighten the efficiency of the system.
The heat pump has an output of 44kW and works in tandem with a ventilating machine to provide exchange of air. The pump is powered by south facing PVs covering 1,108 sq ft, angled at 30 degrees and producing 14.8 kilowatt peak of power.
The IBA_Dock is due to complete construction in 2013 after commencing in 2009.
Via: Gizmag
