IDEAS – European Project
IDEAS : Innovative Technologies to Improve Building Sustainability
Buildings play a very important role in the global energy balance. They account for approximately 40% of the European Union's total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector. The European Union's renovation strategy calls for a 14% reduction in building energy consumption and an 18% decrease in heating and cooling consumption by 2030. The implementation of renewable energy systems will therefore be essential to achieving these goals.
These systems typically require more space than is feasible in a dense urban environment. Apartment and office buildings have limited space on and around their roofs, meaning that the space requirements of solar and geothermal technologies are often insufficient to meet the energy needs of these buildings.
In this sense, the IDEAS project brings together a series of efficiency and scalability improvements for systems such as solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, and geothermal, allowing for the use of a smaller area. In this way, buildings located in urban environments will be able to use more energy from renewable sources, improving their performance.
You can learn more about the project here .
Key Components:
- downshifting layer (LDS)
- Compound parabolic concentrators (CPC)
- Phase change materials (PCMs)
- Flat plate heat exchangers for geothermal heat sources (GSHX)
- Air-to-water heat pump (AWHP)
- Radiant Ground
- Software for Smart Buildings
The diagram below shows how the components of IDEAS come together:
— Integrated Efficiencies
The improvements in space management and efficiency that the various components allow are integrated into an intelligent building management system. This system anticipates the energy needs of buildings, creating a constant and comfortable ambient temperature.
— Testing:
The prototype installation was very successful, with efficiency increases exceeding 20%. Currently, there are already two real-world demonstration installations (in Mayo, Ireland and Ferrara, Italy). Both buildings have very different climates and user conditions, reflecting cross-functionality in terms of potential applications for the technology. User feedback to the installations has been very promising.
IDEAS will present the success of its Irish installation in May 2022 at a public event. Following this launch, the third phase of work will begin, actively seeking industry partners from relevant energy efficiency sectors across Europe, with a view to producing this new technology.
For more information, contact us via email : info@horizon2020ideas.eu
The IDEAS project is led by the Department of Civil, Structural and Mechanical Engineering at TCD (Trinity College Dublin), utilizing modern laboratory resources in close partnership with University Belfast.
IDEAS' other partners are universities, associations, and public and private organizations with exhibition venues located in northern and southern Europe, notably in Ireland and Italy:
- APESF & APREN (Portugal);
- APK Architects Ltd (Ireland);
- Energy Co-operatives (Ireland);
- Fasthouse (Northern Ireland;
- Institute Mihailo Pupin (Serbia);
- LEITAT Technological Center (Spain);
- LNEG – National Laboratory of Energy and Geology (Portugal);
- Mayo County Council (Ireland);
- Phase Change Material Products Ltd (UK);
- Power Capital (Ireland);
- Trinity College Dublin (Ireland);
- Ulster University (Northern Ireland);
- University of Ferrara (Italy);
- University of Cagliari (Italy)
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IDEAS: Innovative Technologies Improving Building Sustainability
Buildings play a significant role in the global energy balance. They account for about 40% of total EU energy use, and 36% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. The EU's renovation wave strategy requires buildings' final energy demand to be reduced by 14%, and heating and cooling energy use reduced by 18% by 2030. Deployment of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) will be essential in achieving these goals.
RES often require more space than is practicable in the densely built-up urban setting. Apartment blocks and offices have restricted roof space and surrounding building footprints. This means that traditional solar and geothermal technologies space requirements are often insufficient to meet the needs of buildings' energy needs.
IDEAS brings together a number of efficiency and scale improvements to solar thermal, PV and geothermal RES. These enable greater energy efficiencies to be achieved using a smaller area. This will mean that buildings in urban settings will be able to have more of their energy needs met by sustainable sources.
If you are interested in knowing more about the project please check here .
The Key Components:
- Luminescent Downshifting Layer (LDS)
- Compound Parabolic Concentrators (CPCs)
- Phase Change Materials (PCMs)
- Flat Panel Ground Source Heat Exchangers (GSHX)
- Air-to-water Heat Pump (AWHP)
- Radiant Floors
- Smart Building Software System
— Integrated Efficiencies
The space and efficiency that these components capable of achieving are integrated via an intelligent building management system. This predicts the buildings energy requirements on an hourly, daily, and seasonal basis to manage the outputs from the RES to create a comfortable consistent ambient temperature in the building year-round.
— Project Achievements
Our prototype installation was very successful with recorded increased efficiencies of >20%. We have now moved on to two real-world demonstration installations (in Mayo, Ireland and Ferrara, Italy). Both buildings have very different climates and user conditions and so reflect a cross-section of possible applications for the technology. User responses at the installations have been very promising.
IDEAS will launch the successful deployment of its Irish installation in May 2022 at a public stakeholder event. After this launch, we will begin the third stage of our work by actively seeking industry partners from the relevant building energy efficiency sectors across Europe to bring this exciting new technology to production. For more information on the project email: info@horizon2020ideas.eu
IDEAS Partners
The IDEAS project is led by the Department of Civil, Structural and Mechanical Engineering in TCD, utilizing modern laboratory resources in close partnership with the University of Belfast. The other IDEAS partners consist of universities, public and private organizations with demonstration sites to be located in north and south Europe (specifically Ireland and Italy):
- APESF & APREN (Portugal);
- APK Architects Ltd (Ireland);
- Energy Co-operatives (Ireland);
- Fasthouse (Northern Ireland);
- Institute Mihailo Pupin (Serbia);
- LEITAT Technological Center (Spain);
- LNEG – National Laboratory of Energy and Geology (Portugal);
- Mayo County Council (Ireland);
- Phase Change Material Products Ltd (United Kingdom);
- Power Capital (Ireland);
- Trinity College Dublin (Ireland);
- Ulster University (Northern Ireland);
- University of Ferrara (Italy);
- University of Cagliary (Italy).
