Building a low carbon future

A project to explore solar energy technologies and their role in a low carbon future will be launched by the Welsh School of Architecture in partnership with Tata Steel.

As part of EU Sustainable Energy Week, the Sustainable Building Envelope Demonstration (SBED) project will design, model, test, prototype and monitor low carbon building systems incorporating transpired solar collectors (TSC) in eight buildings in Convergence Areas of Wales. Building types include residential, commercial (offices or retail), industrial and institutional (schools, hospitals, care homes).

The project will closely monitor the construction, implementation and real-life performance of the demonstration systems, disseminating best practice to the wider industry. Information gathered during the project will enable the economic viability and cost effectiveness of the technologies to be assessed for the different building types.

The project is backed with £1.8m from the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government.

Phil Jones, Sustainable Building Envelope Demonstration, project director, Cardiff University, said:"The potential for using the envelope of the building to collect solar energy is huge. SBED will develop and demonstrate an integrated approach to building scale renewable energy generation, rather than have it as a bolt-on.

"This project aims to kick start the industry for the provision, installation and maintenance of these systems by showing, through working examples, how the technologies can be integrated into various building types in Wales."

The launch event will take place on Thursday 27th June, 2013, at the SPECIFIC Innovation Centre, Baglan Bay. This will provide an opportunity to explore in more detail, building integrated solar energy technologies and their role in a low carbon future.

There are limited spaces available, and places must be registered here.