3ème Conférence Zero Carbone
The 3rd edition of the Zero carbon conference entitled "NEW ROLES FOR BUILDINGS AND NEIGHBOURHOODS ?" took place at the University of Applied Science of Western Switzerland, Fribourg campus on Wednesday the 18th of November 2015. On this occasion, the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) and the Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory (PV-Lab) were involved into the presentation of two conferences related to the Active Interfaces research project.
In accordance with the goals of the Energy Strategy 2050 of the Swiss Federal Government a reduction in emissions of CO2 and a transition in the usage of energy is well under way. Within this process there are challenges, and opportunities for the energy and construction sectors. Over and above the needs for rational energy usage, energy positive buildings and neighbourhoods that generate an excess of energy and contribute to the stability of the grid are already a reality. The conference aims at showing the contribution that buildings and neighborhoods could have as part of the energy transition, to explore the constraints that exist and highlight future developments.
International and Swiss speakers will made presentations about rational energy usage, distributed production and storage of energy, and the challenges posed for the management of such networks. The day wrapped up with presentations that looked at the issues in a wider context, the effects on society and the behavior of users in relation to the use of renewable energies.
Prof. Emmanuel Rey, head of the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) and Prof. Christophe Ballif, head of the Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory (PV-Lab), made two presentations on the theme "Buildings and neighborhoods as energy producers". Both lectures are directly related to the Active Interfaces interdisciplinary research project, which aims at crossing over the current obstacles for a large-scale advanced implementation of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) into urban renewal processes.