How industrial buildings become "power plants"

Green roofs and insulation, photovoltaics and façades with solar thermal energy, heat pumps - there are many ways to optimize the energy efficiency of buildings. Together with RWTH Aachen University and Fachhochschule Dortmund, architects at Fachhochschule Dortmund are going one step further. In the "Virtual Energy Demonstrator" project, they are showing how industrial buildings can be climate-positive. The Federal Ministry of Business Studies and Climate Protection is supporting the project.

"Contemporary energy concepts must consider the multitude of possibilities and components together and assess the concrete effect in context," explains Prof. Dr. Helmut Hachul from the Faculty of Architecture at Fachhochschule Dortmund. This is why the project is not about evaluating individual components as "better" or "worse". "With the virtual energy demonstrator, we are developing a tool that will enable planners to perfectly coordinate individual measures."

The focus is on industrial buildings and steel structures in particular. "These are the medium-sized factory buildings that we have hundreds of here in the region," says Prof. Hachul. The metal construction expert sees great potential here, as too little attention has been paid to building energy in industrial construction to date. "We want to show what is already possible with today's technology and the current state of research," emphasizes Prof. Hachul. He talks about energy-activated steel solutions for energy generation, storage and distribution, solar thermal energy in the hall walls and steel energy piles in the ground. "In addition to electricity, we are focusing on thermal energy - both heating in winter and cooling in summer."

There will be two standardized model buildings in the virtual energy demonstrator: the medium-sized industrial hall and an office building. "We will create 2D and 3D models and feed the individual components with data - both physical data and construction costs," says Prof. Hachul, describing the goal. Planners and construction experts should then play with the controls like a DJ at a mixing desk. The only difference is that they don't adjust the bass and tempo, but rather the material, insulation and costs. The digital tool then takes care of the complex interactions and calculations.

"Ultimately, it's about making the world greener. And we can use this project to show ways to achieve this," says Prof. Hachul. At best, this would result in industrial buildings that generate more energy than they consume.