The manufacturing and service industries involved in energy-saving have been growing and are expected to grow worldwide. The market for energy efficiency improvements and innovations in the buildings sector has seen significant governments support over the past few years in many countries. Improving data access and their analysis are helping to enhance the ability to understand this market and its trends. This reality sets new need for reliable data further technological and methodological improvements. Part of response to this need is to make the information accessible to everyone in various global locations and to share the progress of technological knowledge. This vision was translated to the recently launched web-based database: EffiBUILDING.eu.
EffiBUILDING is the facility to compare the markets' offering and therefore improve products according to market trends and technologies. It is also a tool to establish contact with material, component and system suppliers for energy efficient buildings.
EffiBUILDING Database: Tool Supporting the Innovation and Energy Savings Methodologies
EffiBUILDING.eu is a database of novel materials and products as well as prototypes within the area of energy efficient products & solutions of buildings. It is also an overview and benchmarking tool of the latest state of the art components and systems available on the market and also latest research results and prototypes. This innovative tool simplifies access to know-how of energy efficient products for all users involved in building industry.
The tool serves to Architects and Building Technologists during the design phase, for evidence based selection of novel and most efficient products and solutions. The data are also applicable for building modelling tools.
Moreover, product manufacturers and suppliers gain unique opportunity to use this database as an additional sales channel and to get access to large pool of potential buyers. This database is a virtual trade fair attracting relevant customers and it operates 24 hours a day! Sharing a product or prototype in the website, users would be able to enjoy 6 months the content of the database with no cost.
Researchers and developers can fully exploit an added value of this database getting an overview of the recent prototypes and contacts to researchers developing them. Therefore it is easier to share, discover, compare and commercialize research and development results more efficiently. This product can democratize and globalize the access to information about this market and its trends, which is often a domain of highly specialized and localized services.
The database is specialized in efficient windows and facades systems, as well as photovoltaic modules and energy efficient sensors for buildings. The data is collected from public sources, fairs/conferences, private businesses, research organizations and universities of all over the world. Each product in the database has its own technical datasheet and information about the manufacturing company, making easier the benchmarking between products.
Most of the energy lost in buildings usually comes through badly insulated windows. EffiBUILDING offers different types of efficient windows according to customer's needs: multiple glazing, filled with different gases and with the lowest U-values. The quality of materials in building facades can also be an important factor to save money in bills. Very efficient panels, insulated foams, glazing..etc are included in the tool combined with the newest technologies.
Photovoltaics Modules, are getting more and more important in the current market of energy efficiency. Researchers are trying to get the highest efficiency at the lowest price developing many different materials to be able to be competitive and revolutionize the current market. At this category users will be able to find different technologies from crystalline photovoltaic panels to multi-junction or thin films. One subcategory is also dedicated to those technologies which haven't had a place on the market yet, but they are progressing fast to be the next generation of Photovoltaics technologies. One of these technologies, would be the Organic Photovoltaic films, which offer a number of advantages ranging from rapid, ultra-low-cost manufacturing to extremely thin, lightweight, and flexible form factors, which present opportunities for revolutionary advances in the acceptance and deployment of solar energy.
The latest category incorporated at EffiBUILDING have been Sensors for Energy Efficiency which make buildings more energy saving, but also healthy and comfortable place. At this category users can find the latest technologies of the market to control and monitor the humidity, temperature, occupancy, lighting and air quality. Sensors that can communicate with the thermostat, a smart meter and apps accessible on the web or smartphones will make HVACs the key toward lowering those utility bills-or in the event of massive energy price increases, keep them manageable. According to Landwehr, smarter HVAC systems can immediately net a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency upon installation and sensors are essential elements of HVACs. One of these sensors is occupancy sensor, which importance rapidly grows. There are two main technologies for these sensors, Ultrasonic and PIR (Passive Infrared sensors). The combination of both technologies gives the best sensor solutions. Dual-technology occupancy sensors minimize the risk of false triggering (lights coming on when the space is unoccupied). Occupancy sensors have become an integral component of a comprehensive lighting control system and have moved from being 'forward-thinking' devices to a core part of a building construction project.
EffiBUILDING design and development is performed by Amires consulting company. The company has many years of experience in research, development and innovation of energy efficient projects and technology scouting in this domain. At this moment, Amires is giving consultancy support in three running EU projects related with energy efficiency: AMBASSADOR, TRIBUTE and FLUIDGLASS. EffiBUILDING is starting to be well known and is developing and growing at the same time the market does.
Conclusion
Although the energy efficiency in buildings is getting more popular in the recently years, the stimulation and support to society is still needed to reach highest levels of energy savings. Nowadays, internet is giving us the opportunity to share technical information, contacts and other information in order to improve the current technologies and products. EffiBUILDING is providing all this information preselected, ready to use and it is giving a 360° overview of the market to everyone who can be interested. The tool support networking and collaboration for products implementation or its development and commercialization. Sharing knowledge and data for the future of energy saving and innovation of technologies is the first step.
By Pello Azkarate, Product Manager at Amires s.r.o., Czech Republic
