Brooklyn-based BlocPower is an innovative for-profit startup that aims to renovate thousands of older buildings to become highly energy efficient, all-electric, and low–carbon emitting. All while creating good jobs for low-income people. As a “public benefit” corporation, BlocPower’s core goals include energy efficiency, renewable energy, greenhouse gas reduction, economic development, job creation in low-income communities, and financial return for its investors.
BlocPower contracts with building owners, local governments, and utilities to decarbonize residential buildings. They start by making them all-electric, removing all the fossil fuel–powered HVAC, stoves, and water heaters; replacing them with highly efficient heat pump heating and cooling systems, heat pump water heaters, and electric stoves with induction ranges. Wherever possible, they add rooftop solar or purchase renewable power for the buildings.
Making It Simple for Owners and Residents
Using advanced modeling and project-management technology, BlocPower handles the contractors; engineering and design; the equipment, removals and installations; as well as the construction loans. Sure, it’s challenging for building owners and residents to go through this process, but BlocPower does everything they can to make it easier. In addition, they provide the financing needed to pay for the project in a way that saves the owners money, usually from the very first year.
BlocPower reports that owners often save 40–60% on their utility bills after the renovation. So the annual total loan payments for the renovation are often less than the annual energy savings. As a result, even though BlocPower lends the money with interest, the owner pays less each year because of the energy savings.
Aiming High
BlocPower has a contract to electrify every residential building in the city of Ithaca within 4 years. Other cities with climate action plans are negotiating with BlocPower to assist them in decarbonizing. While they help to decarbonize a city, BlocPower hires local, low-income residents to do the work.
As an investor-backed company, BlocPower is growing its financial clout in order to scale up its building energy renovations and lending services to meet building energy efficiency needs nationwide. They systematically take advantage of all available government grants, and they’re developing Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors, as well as crowdfunding. As BlocPower plans to go public and take their operations nationwide, they could have a massive impact on carbon emissions as they move homes and buildings across the country forward on the path to green energy.
BlocPower aims to make it possible for cities to meet their climate goals while creating a profit center for investors; creating healthier residences and workplaces; and lowering energy bills.
Spotted: Rivers are some of the most idyllic, and valuable, natural environments on earth, and this beauty naturally attracts the attention of tourists. While river tourism bolsters local economies and creates an incentive to preserve natural waterways, traditional fossil fuel tourist vessels create emissions of carbon dioxide and air pollutants. Moreover, gas or oil leaks from motorboats and sailboats with engines can contaminate water. And from the tourists’ own point of view, the peace and tranquillity of a river scene is often soured by the noise and vibrations of a chugging engine. But what if there was a way to address these problems?
Croatia has some of the most beautiful rivers and lakes in Europe, and Croatian startup iCat has developed a solar-powered passenger catamaran that enables tourists, and others, to enjoy the scenery in a more sustainable way. The 15-metre, 54-passenger vessel—called the solarCat—comes with an integrated solar power station that allows it to run on its own self-generated energy. Not only does this lead to zero emissions, it also significantly reduces the amount of noise the catamaran generates. In fact, iCat claims that “the only noise and vibrations will come from the wind and waves.”
The vessel’s modular deck can be adapted to various needs in just 30 minutes – from educational events, concerts, and VIP parties to simple passenger transport. The catamaran’s wheelhouse is also made of glass and is situated to the right side of the bow. According to the company this creates “a sense of transparency, thus eliminating visual barriers for the passengers.”
The solarCat was first presented on Zagreb’s Lake Jarun two years ago and is already in use in Croatia for tourism purposes.
Springwise has previously spotted several sustainable boating innovations, including an electric boat powered by a single battery, and a Seine riverboat powered by old EV batteries.
Following a record-breaking heatwave in the UK and western Europe, with climate change meaning that sweltering temperatures are likely to become more common, Smith Mordak outlines 10 ways to design buildings that remain cool in hot weather.
Want to design cool architecture? Of course you do! Follow these principles and you too can be a cool designer of cool spaces that don’t heat up our climate – not cool.
Photo by Lara Swimmer
Ground-source heat pumps and low-lying buildings
Low-lying buildings stay cooler than tall skinny ones because the ground maintains a pretty even temperature. Ground-source heat pumps essentially supercharge this process by facilitating depositing heat in the ground in summer and drawing heat from the ground in winter.
Host House in Salt Lake City (pictured), was designed by architects Kipp Edick and Joe Sadoski to be a net-zero building. It is mostly one-storey and uses a ground-source heat pump as one of its measures for controlling temperatures during the extremes of the Utah summers and winters.
Find out more about Host House ›
Photo by Oskar Proctor
Exposed thermal mass
Internally exposed thermal mass is a mini version of this same concept. Thermally massive materials store heat or coolness, reducing the temperature difference between day and night.
Concrete has been soaring high on the thermal mass scale for far too long. The argument goes that while you’ll emit a load of carbon dioxide making the cement, the energy you’ll save by not having to heat and cool the building as much will make up for it. This is as annoying as those ads for excessively packaged nutrient-free foodstuffs that claim you’ll ‘save’ money buying them because they’re not quite as overpriced as they were yesterday, when you’d be better off not buying them at all. Concrete does not have a monopoly on thermal mass.
Hempcrete – a mix of hemp shiv (the woody stem of the plant) and a lime binder – is a highly insulating material that also provides that much sought-after thermal mass without the huge upfront carbon cost. It’s also vapour permeable and absorbs and releases moisture depending on its environment, so it controls humidity. Other low-carbon thermally massive materials include stone, rammed earth, and unfired bricks.
Flat House in Cambridgeshire (pictured), is a zero-carbon house designed by Practice Architecture that makes extensive use of hempcrete inside and out, especially on the exposed interior walls.
Find out more about Flat House ›
Photo courtesy of BVN Donovan Hill
Air cooling
If you create a labyrinth of thermal mass in your basement then not only do you get to say “want to see my labyrinth?” when people come to visit, you also have a no-need-to-plug-in coolness store always at hand. If you slowly pass outside air across the cool walls and of your cool underground maze before bringing it into inhabited spaces, then you’ve supercooled your passive ventilation without any chillers.
The Australian Plant Bank in New South Wales (pictured) uses an underground thermal labyrinth to capture and retain the heat of the day or the cool of the night, preventing sharp temperature fluctuations and warming or cooling the building by up to 7.5 degrees centigrade. It was designed by BVN Donovan Hill.
Find out more about the Australian Plant Bank ›
Photo by Tommaso Riva
Heat extraction
As well as bringing in the cold we need to get rid of the heat. Even if you unplug everything, people still generate heat that needs removing, especially if there are a lot of people in your building.
Of course, unless your building is in a climate that never gets cold, even at night, this heat extraction needs to be controlled. Heat rises, so tall spaces that allow the heat to collect out of the way, openable windows at a high level that let the hot air out, and chimneys with wind cowls that use the passing wind to draw the air up through the building are all good tactics.
The image shows The Arc gymnasium in Bali designed by Ibuku, which uses vents at the apex of its roof to allow warm air to escape. Find out more about The Arc ›
Photo by Hufton + Crow
Keeping heat out
To reduce the amount of work the building needs to do to extract the heat or bring in the cold, well-designed buildings keep the heat out. If you don’t have a thermal labyrinth in your basement (yet!) then having a heat exchanger on your air intake/extract means you’re not losing heat in winter or gaining it in summer.
A huge way to prevent the temperature indoors from being a slave to the temperature outdoors is insulation: lovely thick insulation made from biobased, non-polluting materials. Couple this with double or triple glazing and a fat green roof (both insulating and brilliant for biodiversity) and you’re laughing.
The image shows the Maggie’s Centre for cancer patients in Leeds, designed by Heatherwick Studio and built with natural materials. Its roof is covered in plant species native to the woodlands of Yorkshire. Find about more about this Maggie’s Centre ›
Photo by Leonardo Finotti
External shading
We’re getting better at insulation, but what we’re still mostly rubbish at as a profession is external shading. This keeps the heat off the building in the first place.
Shading needs to consider orientation. Vertical shading is best for east-and west-facing facades where the sun is lower. Overhangs and horizontal shading are best for the highest sun (from the south in the northern hemisphere and north in the southern hemisphere).
Deciduous trees are also handy, given how they shed their little shading units (aka leaves) in the winter when you appreciate the sun’s warmth. Other dynamic shading options are shutters and awnings that you can move or open and close. The shading is best outside because then the heat never gets indoors, but at a push, internal shading that’s pale – so that it reflects the heat back out – is better than nothing.
Aleph Zero and Rosenbaum designed the Children Village school boarding facility in northern Brazil (pictured) with a large canopy roof framed by cross-laminated timber to shade the building.
Find out more about Children Village ›
Photo by Rasmus Hjortshøj
Green urban environments
Designing a cool building is not just about the building, but also about designing a cool environment for your building to be in. The urban heat island effect can increase temperatures in urban areas by more than 10 degrees Celsius compared to their rural neighbours. We desperately need to tackle this if we’re to ease the health impacts of heatwaves and reduce the energy demand of buildings.
This means fewer heat-emitting things in urban spaces, ie fewer cars and fewer air conditioning units pumping out hot exhaust into the streets. It also means not leaving heat batteries lying about in the sun: towns and cities tend to be stock-full of thermal mass in the form of masonry, paving, and tarmac that soak up the heat from the sun and hang on to it tightly. We need less tarmac and more green, and when we retrofit our buildings with external insulation it would be great if this was reducing the amount of masonry cooking in the sunshine.
The Karen Blixens Plads public plaza in Copenhagen (pictured), which was designed by COBE, covers sheltered parking for bicycles and features neutral-coloured tiles frequently interspersed with planting and trees.
Find out more about Karen Blixens Plads ›
Photo by Wayne W
Shaded public realm
Trees are magic. Not only do they provide shade, habitats for a gazillion species, share information and nutrients with each other and other plants through mycelium networks and improve soil health, but they also cool the air around them via evapotranspiration.
This is where the trees use the heat energy in the air to evaporate the water in their leaves. We don’t need to leave this all up to the trees, however: moving water (from waterfalls to misters) has the same effect, as when the water evaporates it leaves the air around it cooler. We can also rip off the trees’ shading technologies: keep the sun off external spaces to prevent those hard, thermally massive materials from cooking us like pizza stones.
The image shows a street in Shanghai.
Photo by Víctor de la Fuente
Pale roofs
A final dig at tarmac and its buddy, the bitumen roof, is that they are dark and so they absorb heat. If these surfaces were paler, they could help reflect heat back out of town.
Casa Banlusa (pictured) is a white-roofed villa in Valladolid designed by architecture studio Sara Acebes Anta.
Find out more about Casa Banlusa ›
Photo by Charly Broyez
Low-energy living and reduced embodied carbon
As well as ‘fabric first’ and alleviating the urban heat island effect, let’s remember that facilitating behaviours that allow us to adapt to a changing climate is also part of this story. For example, how do the acoustics inside your home allow you to work odd hours, or how can you design spaces not for fixed activities, but the flexibility to allow inhabitants to move around a house as the sun moves across the sky?
Reducing the amount of heat being generated inside a building is a concept that bridges behaviour change and building design. Pretty much everything we plug in is pumping out heat (even a fan, depressingly) so we need more efficient appliances but also to just switch stuff off. If there’s an alternative way to do something without energy, consider it!
Mars Architectes designed the apartment block in Paris (pictured) entirely from wooden modules that are also clad in timber.
This brings us almost to the end of our survey of principles for being a cool designer. There’s just one final thing, arguably the most important.
Definitely do all that stuff above, but if you want to be a really cool designer, you need to not only massively reduce the energy needed to make your projects comfortable and healthy, you also need massively reduce the embodied carbon of your projects. In other words, you need to throw off the duvet that is all those greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
To our human eyes, carbon dioxide and methane are as transparent as oxygen, but if we could see infrared light, we would see the atmosphere getting more and more opaque. Those greenhouse gases are causing global heating by blocking infrared light from busting out into space, like when your duvet hides the fact that your phone is still glowing when your family thinks you’re asleep. Not cool. Not cool. Not cool.
Find out more about this apartment building ›
Smith Mordak is a multi-award-winning architect, engineer, writer and curator and the director of sustainability and physics at British engineering firm Buro Happold.
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The Zero Energy Project has found a new home withinElemental Green, a leading green building media company dedicated to accelerating adoption of more sustainable residential building products and techniques.
By joining forces, the Zero Energy Project will reach a wider audience and have a greater opportunity to build consumer demand for zero energy and zero carbon homes, while encouraging building professionals to increase supply. Elemental Green and the Zero Energy Project, in partnership, aim to further our reach and impact – improving the discovery process for new products and professional services, and increasing understanding of how we can build homes that are energy efficient, sustainable, and healthy.
Thank you for being part of the Zero Energy Project story and for continuing that journey jointly with Elemental Green as we all work toward creating a zero-carbon future.
Joe Emerson Founder, The Zero Energy Project Advisory Board, Elemental Green
Spotted: Having inherited their family shoe business, and after learning the ins and outs of the industry, a pair of Croatian brothers, the Boljars, decided to step away from the literal toxicity of footwear. They created Miret, an eco-friendly sneaker made from 97 per cent natural materials. The upper is wool, the insole is hemp, and the outer is natural rubber and cork.
The remaining three per cent of the shoe consists of synthetic glue and polyester thread. The brand emphasises that although its footwear is low impact, it is by no means ‘sustainable’. Production still affects the Earth, and most of the company’s products, including the sneakers, are not easily compostable. Making shoes from bio-based materials is a huge improvement, though, and something the company wants to continually improve.
Replacing the glue and thread with natural materials is a priority, as is continuing to raise the profile of the threat of plastic pollution to the natural environment. Assembling the shoes in the same country that the brand is based in helps reduce emissions. And the Life Cycle Assessment of the full emissions footprint of a single pair of Miret sneakers is 3.7 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide. That compares to the 14 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide typically created during the production of a pair of sneakers.
Environmentally friendly sneakers are becoming more common and are an exciting area of development. Springwise has spotted materials innovations that include plant-based oils and eucalyptus used in a biodegradable shoe and a brand that offers a vegan, fully traceable sneaker.
Irish social enterprise Common Knowledge has teamed up with hemp producer Margent Farm to design a low-carbon micro home that it claims can support people affected by the housing crisis.
Designed in-house by Common Knowledge, the Tigín Tiny Homes take the form of oversized caravans built from natural materials that include Margent Farm‘s corrugated hemp cladding panels, cork insulation and natural rubber linoleum floor tiles.
They are intended for people struggling to buy their own home. Purchasers can either buy one of the 20-square-metre micro homes ready made, or learn the skills to build their own.
The homes are clad with corrugated hemp panels
With property prices in Ireland increasing by as much as 11 per cent a year, Common Knowledge believes these homes offer an affordable solution for those looking to “escape the rent trap”.
“The Tiny Home is filling that gap between moving out of the rental market and owning your own home,” said Harrison Gardner, who co-founded the organisation along with Erin McClure, Fionn Kidney and Spider Hickman and is also a passive building designer.
“The reality for a lot of people is that they can’t afford a home that’s actually ready to move into. They can only afford a home that needs a lot of work, and they can’t afford to do that work and pay rent,” Gardner told Dezeen.
“The Tiny Home is filling this gap; people can use it for a year or two or three, while they work on their forever home.”
The interior is designed to feel as bright and spacious as possible
Common Knowledge is primarily an education provider. By hosting workshops that teach everyday construction skills – like bricklaying, carpentry and welding – it aims to empower people to self-build.
The Tigín Tiny Homes – named after the Gaelic word for a small house or cottage – are the result of these workshops.
They are also available to buy ready-made at prices starting from €55,000 for people unable or unwilling to build themselves.
“We have now taught over 200 people how to build their own Tiny Homes,” said Kidney. “Of course, the byproduct of this is that we have produced four Tiny Homes that we can offer for sale.”
A ladder leads up to a large mezzanine sleeping space
The target audience for these prefabricated homes includes parents supporting their grown-up children to get on the property ladder, and those who don’t have the time to take on a building project.
The profits will be used to fund future workshops.
Each home contains two floors, with the interiors led by Common Knowledge’s McClure. The lower level includes a window seat that doubles as a bed, as well as a kitchenette, a toilet and shower, and a storage area or workspace.
A ladder leads up to a mezzanine floor containing a large loft bed.
Windows make u 25 per cent of the exterior walls
As the Tigín Tiny Homes are mobile, weight was a key consideration when selecting materials. It was this that led Common Knowledge to Margent Farm’s corrugated hemp panels.
First used in the pioneering zero-carbon Flat House, these panels are made by combining cannabis plant fibres with a sugar-based resin produced from agricultural waste, making them both lightweight and highly sustainable.
The rear corner can be either used for storage or as a workspace
Although planning regulations make it difficult for these panels to be used in typical architecture projects, their use on mobile structures is not so restricted.
“Hemp ticked most of the boxes,” said Harrison, “and the fact it’s grown and manufactured in the UK is amazing.”
Other design details include large windows, an eco-composting toilet and a customised electrical system that can be used off-grid or connected up to mains power.
Rigid cork insulation is left exposed inside
Common Knowledge plans to open-source the designs for the Tigín Tiny Homes so that anyone can build their own, either using these materials or alternatives.
Gardner said the plan is to release a toolkit that includes a full set of architectural drawings, a materials list with suggested suppliers, and a price scale.
“We’re trying to create options in the toolkit, so people can scale the price up or down,” he said. “For instance, if they don’t want to use cork insulation, they can switch it out for something else.”
Each home also features an eco-composting toilet
He believes the use of natural materials, combined with the natural light and views, make the Tigín Tiny Homes a more attractive option than the traditional mobile home.
“Compared to a lot of tiny homes that exist in the world, ours is quite tall and it has a lot of glazing,” Gardner added.
“You get a real feeling of space and feel completely connected to nature.”
Other mobile micro homes recently featured on Dezeen include Quatro by Land Ark, Dodo Van by Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Váscones and Base Cabin by Studio Edwards.
New technologies are making zero energy homes and buildings more affordable, healthier, and more comfortable than ever. The Zero Energy Project now helps you keep up with advanced building equipment and materials through our new Zero Energy Product Directory. Our focus is on energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly products that support and hasten the transition to zero energy homes and buildings.
Improved Efficiency
At ZEP, we are fond of saying that you can buy all the products you need to build a zero energy building “off the shelf”. While that’s certainly true, even mature technologies are improving their energy efficiency every year. For example, the success of heat pumps in heating and cooling homes is well established, and using heat pumps for water heating is gaining acceptance. Now heat pumps are being used for energy-efficient clothes drying as well. And mini-split heat pumps are now capable of heating a home even when outside temperatures drop below -13°F . As product offerings change and new products are introduced, one of the goals of the directory is to help you find the latest equipment and materials for your building project.
More Choices
While the key to affordability in zero energy buildings is, and always will be, good design, new technology offers designers many more choices. Technological advances are increasing efficiency and changing the balance between efficiency due to structural measures and efficiency as a result of high-performance equipment. For example, the rapidly falling price of solar electric panels is changing the relative cost-effectiveness of on-site generation versus that of structural improvements. Furthermore, solar roofing combines two functions that can be installed at the same time at lower cost than roofing and solar panels separately.
Lower Cost
It’s also true that it is sometimes cheaper to purchase an advanced product than to spend time and money on a labor-intensive, conventional approach. For instance, Aerobarrier is an aerosol sealant for buildings that can reliably reduce air leakage to a specified level in only a few hours. Air leakage is a complex problem with at least a dozen unique solutions. But this one technology promises to revolutionize the task of air sealing, especially for production builders.
New Capabilities
Finally, some new products offer capabilities that simply haven’t existed in the past. On-site battery storage is already a key component of major grid-integrated zero energy housing developments. This could become standard equipment in future zero energy homes and buildings. It’s a nascent technology that can benefit builders and buyers, while helping utilities even out the loads on the grid.
Greenhouse Gases
Reducing the energy needed to operate buildings has been the focus for years. Now that we are closer to realizing the goal of buildings that operate entirely on clean energy, it’s time to integrate the greenhouse gas impact of creating the products themselves. Sometimes called embodied energy, this is the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from extraction of raw materials, transportation, processing, manufacturing, installation, and disposal or recycling.
Products selected for the Zero Energy Project Product Directory exhibit low global warming potential compared to conventional materials or products. When available, the manufacturer has completed and made public a full life cycle assessment to show the range of benefits and impacts of its production, use, and disposal.
Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Safety
Since zero energy homes are so air-tight, it is important that the products used in them do not off-gas toxins, such as volatile organic compounds or formaldehyde, or contain chemicals contained in the Living Building Challenge Red List. These chemicals are a risk for homeowners, builders, fire safety personnel and for the environment.
New or Existing Buildings
New zero energy construction offers the easiest opportunity for installing these products. On the other hand energy efficient equipment has an especially important role to play in renovating existing homes toward zero. In these homes where the structure is already established and access is limited, upgrading the energy efficiency of the shell is more difficult and expensive. So it becomes necessary to take advantage of the opportunity to replace failing equipment with new, high-efficiency products, either over time or as part of a major energy upgrade on the path to zero. The energy savings that result may be sufficient to avoid having to make major structural changes.
Suggest Products for the Directory
While the Zero Energy Project Product Directory is not intended to be an exhaustive list of everything needed for high energy performance, our hope is that the Directory will stimulate the supply chain of cost saving, energy efficient products in a way that will help drive the zero energy movement forward. Our goal is to help you identify useful products, both new and tried-and-true, that will make it easier to build a zero energy home. We invite your suggestions for products to add to the directory as well as your feedback on listed products, which you can provide in the comment section at the bottom of each page.
Please Note: While the Zero Energy Project is funded in part by sponsorships, sponsors will have no effect on our editorial content or mission, which is to help us all advance towards a zero net energy, zero net carbon, society. Contact us for more information about sponsorship.
Spotted: Bananas going to waste on the kitchen counter is an all-too-frequent occurrence. On an industrial scale, that waste is even greater, with up to 30 per cent of the annual banana crop deemed unsuitable for sale and therefore discarded. UK company LyteGro sees opportunity within those piles of unsaleable fruit. By adding water to the bananas and then mixing, heating, and filtering the mash, the company produces Baclyte, a microbial growth enhancer.
Highly potent, the mixture enables rapid microbe growth for a huge range of industrial applications. With everything from biofuels, brewing, and distilling to dairy food and pharmaceutical production reliant on microbes, Baclyte has the potential to be a highly valuable addition to food and commercial manufacturing processes. By speeding up microbial growth, production of the final product occurs faster and yield is increased.
Key to both the use and production of the growth enhancer is its scalability and circularity. LyteGro plans to expand its volume of production by working with local communities and governments to build and locate waste banana processing plants near growers. Cutting down on transportation costs reduces emissions, and as microbreweries and distilleries continue pushing the growth in circular economies, putting local waste products to use further can further bolster their green credentials.
So much food waste still occurs that Springwise has spotted a wide range of innovations making use of leftover produce. In Spain, a student has turned ugly fruit that would otherwise have been wasted into a line of sustainable cosmetics, and an Italian startup uses orange peels to 3D print a compostable lamp.
A moving wall that evokes a sailing ship and a roof canopy modelled on a banana tree feature in this roundup, which collects 10 buildings that challenge conventional ways of fitting solar panels to help kick off our Solar Revolution series.
Solar panels, also known as photovoltaics or solar electricity cells, are becoming an increasingly common sight in our built environment.
Traditionally installed in the form of rooftop arrays, they capture energy from the sun and convert it into renewable electricity. The stronger the sunshine, the more electricity the panels generate.
While it is not uncommon for solar cells to be installed as an afterthought, this roundup demonstrates how architects are getting creative with the technology, making it a key feature in their designs without compromising on aesthetics.
Read on for 10 buildings completed and upcoming that incorporate solar panels in creative ways:
Photo is by Iwan Baan
Bay View, USA, by BIG and Heatherwick Studio
A “dragonscale solar skin” forms the roof of Google’s Bay View campus, which BIG and Heatherwick Studio recently completed in Silicon Valley.
The undulating structure is built from 50,000 solar panels that generate almost seven megawatts of energy, amounting to 40 per cent of the building’s total energy needs.
Find out more about Bay View ›
Photo courtesy of Marjan van Aubel
The Dutch Biotope, UAE, by V8 Architects with Marjan van Aubel
A colourful skylight formed of translucent photovoltaics crowned The Dutch Biotope pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020, casting pink and blue light below like a stained glass window.
Created by V8 Architects the structure incorporates skylights designed by Marjan Van Aubel to show how solar technology could be used as “a form of art” while providing renewable energy.
Find out more about The Dutch Biotope ›
Render is courtesy of MVRDV
LAD headquarters, China, by MVRDV
MVRDV has reimagined a traditional solar canopy in its design of this office building, which it is currently developing for agriculture company LAD in Shanghai.
Its swooping roof structure will be left open on one side but covered in solar cells on the other in a bid to provide renewable energy for the building and minimise its operational carbon footprint.
Find out more about LAD headquarters ›
Photo is by Ivar Kvaal
Powerhouse Telemark, Norway, by Snøhetta
Snøhetta used photovoltaics to cover the angular roof and south-facing facade of the carbon-negative Powerhouse Telemark office in Porsgrunn.
While contributing to the structure’s “clearly identifiable expression”, the studio said the system generates approximately 256,000 kilowatts of renewable energy each year, compensating for the carbon that the building will consume over a 60-year lifespan.
Find out more about Powerhouse Telemark ›
Photo is by Bob Ditty
Mount Sinai Kyabirwa Surgical Facility in Uganda by Kliment Halsband Architects
Slender tree-like columns support the wavy solar canopy that sweeps over this health facility in Uganda, designed by Kliment Halsband Architects.
While providing energy for the building, the canopy also shelters its outdoor spaces in a nod to banana plants growing in the area. “We thought of solar panels as leaves of banana plants gathering sun and providing shade,” the studio explained.
Find out more about Mount Sinai Kyabirwa Surgical Facility in Uganda ›
Render is courtesy of Kennon
550 Spencer, Australia, by Kennon
More than 1,000 solar electric panels that resemble glass will form the facade for this office tower, which Australian studio Kennon recently proposed for Melbourne.
The technology, named Skala, is produced by German company Avancis and has never been used in Australia before. It is designed to replace traditional rooftop arrays and will free up space for a garden on top of the building instead.
Find out more about 550 Spencer ›
Photo is by Didier Boy de la Tour
La Seine Musical, France, by Shigeru Ban
A wall of photovoltaic panels follows the path of the sun at La Seine Musical, a glazed music complex near Paris designed by Shigeru Ban.
Mounted on rails, the sail-like wall is designed to resemble a ship circulating the ovoid structure. This movement also ensures the lobby behind is shaded from direct sunlight over the course of the day.
Find out more about La Seine Musical ›
Photo is by Adam Mørk
Copenhagen International School for Nordhavn, Denmark, by CF Møller
Architecture studio CF Møller disguised 12,000 solar panels as blue cladding at the Copenhagen International School for Nordhavn to mirror its waterfront site.
The panels are arranged in a way that creates a sequin-like effect across the exterior and generates over 50 per cent of the electricity needed to power the building annually.
Find out more about Copenhagen International School for Nordhavn ›
Render is courtesy of MVRDV
Sun Rock, Taiwan, by MVRDV
A rounded form sheathed in photovoltaics will define Sun Rock, an office and operations facility that MVRDV is developing for power company Taipower in Taiwan.
The studio designed its bulbous form to maximise the amount of sunlight its facade can harness throughout the day and, in turn, create enough energy to make the building self-sufficient.
Find out more about Sun Rock ›
Photo is by Ivar Kvaal
Powerhouse Brattørkaia, Norway, by Snøhetta
Three thousand square metres of solar cells envelop this office, another Powerhouse by Snøhetta that produces twice the amount of energy it uses.
Its steep and angular exterior is the result of the limited daylight hours in the city, as it helps maximise sun exposure and allows the panels to harvest as much solar energy as possible before dark.
This article is part of Dezeen’s Solar Revolution series, which explores the varied and exciting possible uses of solar energy and how humans can fully harness the incredible power of the sun.
For the world to meet its climate goals, we all need to play a part in transforming the built environment to zero energy and zero carbon. That’s why we at EEBA (Energy & Environmental Building Alliance ) are setting our sights on making Zero Energy and Zero Carbon homes attainable and available for everyone through zero energy home builder training and consumer engagement.
Zero Energy Home Builder Training on the Path to Zero
We also continue to cast our net broadly through our expanded partnerships with Team Zero. Together we are building demand for zero energy homes by arming consumers with the information, programs, and local professional resources needed for them to plan their own path to zero.
List Your Zero Energy Homes on the North American Inventory of Zero Energy Homes
If you are on the EEBA or Team Zero mailing list, you will be receiving this free Zero Energy Project Newsletter 10 times per year. All EEBA builders and designers who have designed or built a zero energy home are invited to list their zero homes in Team Zero’s Inventory of Zero Energy Homes, and be sure your business is listed in the Zero Energy Project’s Directory of Zero Energy Building Professionals.
About the Author:
Aaron Smith is the CEO of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) which represents a community of over 50,000 builders and their stakeholders across North America that are truly the early adopters and innovators in driving sustainable transformation of the homebuilding industry.
Aaron has over 25 years of experience in home construction, building products, sustainability and non-profit board leadership. Aaron can be reached at aaron@eeba.org
Aaron Smith is the CEO of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) which represents a community of over 50,000 builders and their stakeholders across North America that are truly the early adopters and innovators in driving sustainable transformation of the homebuilding industry.