28 June 2019

Plug-n-Harvest at Sustainable Places

Plug-N-Harvest modular façade retrofit workshop on Sustainable Places 2019

As part of the European Commission Horizon 2020 Plug-N-Harvest project consortium, authors hosted a 90-minute workshop to discuss issues related the modular façade retrofit development in Europe on Sustainable Places 2019 conference at Cagliari, Italy on 6th June 2019. At the workshop four speakers from Cardiff University, RWTH Aachen University, ETRA I+D and Eco Intelligent Growth presented research outputs and current project development. Representatives from about ten H2020 projects joined the discussions. Workshop participants provided technical suggestions on façade design, user interface development for the energy management system, circular economy business models for modular façade and consortium building. As a remarkable conclusion, allrepresentatives agreed that strengthening the synergy among different Horizon 2020 projects would be a benefit for all.

Cristina Sendra explaiing circular constructionA meeting point for EU research programmes

The Sustainable Places conference is a renowned platform for the European Horizon 2020 projects to showcase their innovation outcomes and to generate synergy between different projects. This year, approximately 350 people attended the event, including 180 conference registrants from all over Europe and 100 greenbuilding professionals from local areas in Italy.
As part of the European horizon 2020 Plug-N-Harvest [1] project consortium, authors hosted a 90-minute workshop to discuss issues related the modular façade retrofit development on Sustainable Places 2019 conference during 9:00am-10:30am on 6th June 2019 at Cagliari, Italy. The representatives from about 10 H2020 projects joined the discussions.
During the workshop, we discussed the challenges that EU modular façade retrofit projects are facing. Are there any other initiative/activities working toward the same direction? Which energy services do you see as the essential part of a modular façade development? What is the optimal energy management system for integrated renewable façade? How can the circular economy be applied into modular façade retrofit?
The following speakers presented their research outcomes, being Dr. Hu the chair of the session:

  • Dr Hu Du, Cardiff University, UK, Modular façade retrofit with integrated renewables: the definition and current status in Europe
  • Dr-Ing Rita Streblow, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, The design of a modular façade toolkit
  • Ms Laura Morcillo, ETRA I+D, Spain, Optimal Energy Management System at District Level
  • Dr Cristina Sendra, Eco Intelligent Growth, Spain, Circular Economy applied to Build Environment

The Workshop

The first presentation introduced and defined the means of Modular Façade Retrofit with Renewable energy technologies (MFRRn), then provided its classification and the review of recent evolution including the outcomes from 14 European Commission H2020/FP7 research projects and case studies mentioned in COST Action TU1403 Adaptive Façades Network and IEA ECBCS Annex 50.The second presentation illustrated the concept design of modular façade retrofit toolkit within the H2020 Plug-N-Harvest project. The third presentation showed the recent development of the Optimal Energy Management System at the district level. It allows building owners to share, store, trade energy and trigger demand response events within the district and with the grid. The final presentation introduced the circular economy perspective of the Plug-N-Harvest design which is based on 5 Circular Design Requirements including the use safe materials, design for cycling, transparency and traceability, control on critical raw materials and circular business models.

Plug-n-Harvest_Post Workshop_SustPlaces19