SOLAR DECATHLON 2009: ENERGATE provides windows and doors for the German team
ENERGATE proudly presents the German Solar Decathlon 2009 Team using the latest ENERGATE windows and doors technology.
After the winning of the international architecture competition 2007 ENERGATE provides again windows for the German Team competing in Solar Decathlon 2009, an international architecture competition held in Washington D.C., USA. . The competition will take place from October 9 to 13 & 15 to 18 on the National Mall in Washington D.C., USA (award ceremony: October 16, 8 a.m.).
Sustainability Is Skin Deep
Team Germany started with a "focus on the façade," creating a house that is essentially a two-story cube. The surface is covered with solar cells: an 11.1-kW photovoltaic (PV) system made of 40 single-crystal silicon panels on the roof and about 250 thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) panels on the sides that are expected to produce an incredible 200% of the energy needed by the house. The CIGS component is slightly less efficient than the silicon but will perform better in cloudy weather. The façade's highly insulating, custom vacuum insulation panels plus phase-change material in the drywall maintain comfortable temperatures. Automated louver-covered windows block unwanted solar heat.
New Technologies
The Team Germany philosophy was to "push the envelope with as many new technologies as possible." In particular, the house was designed to maximize PV production and use of the net-metering connection to the electric utility grid on the National Mall. The result is a two-story, cube-shaped building with PV panels on the roof and sides and a single multifunctional living area on the inside. Described by the team as an aesthetic solar design, the house has a bed and other furniture and appliances that fold away or serve multiple purposes. The extensive PV panel deployment is the most notable feature of the Team Germany house, but other technologies include: custom-made vacuum insulation structural panels, phase-change material in both walls (paraffin) and ceiling (salt hydrate), automated louver-covered windows and a boiler integrated into the heat pump system that allows the system to provide domestic hot water as well as heating and cooling.
House Highlights are atwo-story cube shape that provides maximum dimensions and surface area, a surface area that is almost totally covered with PV panels—single-crystal silicon on the roof, thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide on the sides, an expected production of twice the electricity needed and a single multifunctional space inside.
New 3-D-Planning
As a new highlight our company this year realized the Solar Decathlon House 2009 with the new 3-D-Planning Solution REVIT [Autodesk] to make the work more efficiently and easy to handle. The new ENERGATE digital building database, which is now available, provides all necessary datas for professional planning and assembly. ENERGATE is a certified, high-insulating window and doors system. It is highly recommended to use our window in hot summer climates, to reduce the energy demand for AC cooling or in cold winter climates to reduce the heating energy demand [insulation value - european rating: uw=0,85 - 0,32W/m²K - american rating: R8 - R20 - english rating: AA - AAA+]
For more information see: http://www.solardecathlon.tu-darmstadt.de/home/home.en.jsp
