In Europe oil consumption peaked in 2005. There is a strong push towards renewable energy and this will also affect petrol stations. They will have to develop into charging stations for vehicles powered by gas, electricity and fuel cells and become part of an energy supply system based on smart grids.

Since 1999 the Munich based practice Haack + Höpfner Architekten und Stadtplaner BDA have been working with Allguth, a regional company running petrol stations. The project started as a competition with the brief to find an innovative way of construction which allowed for business growth in the short as well as the long term. The design had to support the brand values and avoid the aesthetic of the ubiquitous industrial shed architecture on fringes of our cities.

The architects proposed a contruction system which is open for future developments and can be adapted to different building sites and local business demands. The system should be based on standards which allow for economic and material efficiencies as well as future growth. At the same time the design should have a positive effect on the visibility of the brand and the company.

Haack + Höpfner . Architekten und Stadtplaner  BDA won the competition and their design integrates  the use of natural light and natural ventilation, modular layouts, energy efficient building automation, standardised construction elements, change of use and re-use of the building as well as recycling and sorting of (so called waste) materials. Another key aspect was the integration of the buildings into the urban environment allowing for plants and green spaces.

The modularity of the system and the high standards of design allow for appreciation by the users, low maintenance costs, easy upgrading and longevity. The introduction of renewable energies will demand more flexible and adaptable quiet design solutions like this.

 © M.HAUS 2009, all right reserved

Solar collectors transform solar radiation into heat and transfer the heat into water, solar fluid or air. The solar heat can be used for heating water for bathrooms, kitchens, swimming pools or heating the house.

At the heart of a solar collector is an absorber, which is normally  made of several narrow metal strips painted black. The black paint absorbs the short wave solar radiation, the absorber heats up and transmits the accumulated solar energy in the form of longwave heat rays to a fluid inside the absorber.

Basic absorbers are often used in outdoor swimming pools. The water is pumped through the absorber and water temperatures up to 20⁰C higher than outside temperatures can be achieved.

Glazed collectors achieve higher temperatures. In flat plate collectors absorber plates are connected to a pipe work system and fitted into a well insulated housing with a glass cover. A heat transfer medium such as a water-glycol mixture, to protect against frost, is pumped through the pipe work. This medium then gives off the heat to the water you can use in your bathroom, kitchen or central heating. Flat plate collectors can achieve temperatures of about 50⁰C and efficiencies of up to 60%.

Vacuum tube collectors offer improved efficiency and higher temperatures. They are made from evacuated glass tubes containing absorber strips. The vacuum provides ideal thermal separation and keeps convection heat losses at a minimum. Vacuum tube collectors can achieve temperatures of up to 70⁰C above the outside temperature and they are suitable to support your heating.

When using renewable energy systems, make sure that you introduce energy efficiency measures such as insulation first. This will prevent you from over sizing your systems and save on investment as well as running costs.          

© M.HAUS 2009, all right reserved

‘We cannot offer products which allow for maximum energy savings such as our window profiles and at the same time waste energy in our factories, says CEO Michael Glaw who heads up manufacturing and innovation. The management team at SIP believed that they were well ahead of the game when it came to energy efficiency until a team energy consultants proved them wrong.

SIP employs around 1000 staff and in 2008 generated a turn-over of around € 200 million. In a painstakingly diligent process the energy consulting team spent almost one year analysing the three production plants on site. The current energy costs are € 5.2 million per year and the indentified potential for savings is around € 2 million. The findings were compiled in a 650 page report covering the 13 key areas which the business will have to address. ‘With this red book we gave SIP energy management and energy efficiency guidelines and tools for the next decade’, says Matthias Voigtmann who advices the company.  

Michael Glaw believes that the energy consulting project has seriously sharpened their awareness in energy matters. Manfred Knoll, the Technical Director of SIP, adds: ‘With the project we made a leap from energy administration to energy efficiency.’

The management team fully supports all energy efficiency measures. Investments with a payback period of less than two years such as low energy lighting and motion detectors have already been implemented. SIP is now moving to long-term investments and will also start to integrate their suppliers into the initiatives. The plan is to cause a ripple effect across the supply chain and the wider community.

Initiatives to save 25% of energy are in the pipeline. Michael Glaw and his team at every project holistically. Energy savings cannot have negative side effects such as lowering productivity. The goal is to grow the business whilst lowering energy use and consumption. SIP is well on the way to achieve this goal.

If you want to learn more about SIP, please visit www.sip.de

The energy consultants advising SIP are www.energy-consulting-allgaeu.de

M.HAUS 2009

Textile structures have enormous potential in lightweight construction because of their low weight. Whilst the commercial aviation industry has recently started to use fibre-reinforced plastics, coated fabrics and laminates are finding more and more smart applications in paragliders, kites and hot air balloons.

The Berlin based company aeroix focuses on the development of  innovative products in the field of applied aeronautical sciences and technical textiles. The inter-disciplinary team recently developed and successfully introduced an insulation  system  for hot air balloons called Aerofabrix. The material is a lightweight multilayer fabric and it has the lowest density currently available on the global market.

An air gap within the fabric is required to achieve the insulation properties. Flocked filaments create this air gap whilst being super light. Through this integrated flocked insulation material fuel consumption for ballooning can be reduced by more than 50% or alternatively, larger passengers groups can be transported.

The aeroíx team is currently experimenting with applications in architecture. Other applications could be in the field of protective clothing or outdoor equipment for extreme conditions. The material could also be used in light building structures. aeroix is also working with another Berlin based company called Zendome on lightweight, well insulated and mobile structures,building on Buckminster Fuller’s early groundbreaking structures..

Text by Dr. Sascha Peters, CEO haute innovation – translation by M.HAUS, © all rights reserved

Take your time and explore the two websites – www.aeroix.de and www.zendome.com .

For many drivers, tyres have remained objects of mystery and purchasing decisions can be arbitrary or given over to the dealer. Most of us would not ask for their energy efficiency performance or know how to find the information. On 25 November this year, the European Parliament formally adopted a labelling system, which will make this information easily accessible to consumers.

The information design for this labelling system was done by Applied Information Group (AIG) in London and Mostra managed the project.

The labels build on the iconic and well known energy scale used on EU labels for domestic appliances. AIG has developed three pictograms for the information system, components of which are based on international standards for symbols, and subsequently tested options with would be users. The designers gave consideration to the pictograms’ representation at small sizes and at low resolution, for future multi-channel applications.

The design enables drivers to compare tyres in terms of economy, safety and traffic noise. The information design developed by AIG communicates these concepts and values across all the languages and cultural barriers of Europe. It allows the consumer make well informed choices and purchasing decisions.

However, to achieve a reduction of 40% of CO2 emissions by 2020 a country like Germany will have to reduce its emissions from transport by 15 million tonnes per annum. Technical innovations and higher energy efficiency will help to achieve these goals. If, however, 5% of all car journeys were done by public transport and 30% of all car journeys shorter than 5km were done by bicycle, 3 to 4 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved each year.

 M.HAUS 2009