Teaching and research at the Institute of Energy and Drive Technologies (IEA) is concerned with building climate, solar construction using active solar technology (solar thermal energy, photovoltaics), passive solar technology (thermally insulated windows, building mass etc.) as well as heat and electricity storage, taking energy efficiency and comfort inside the building into particular consideration. Here the building physics and plant equipment (heating, cooling, ventilation etc.) – and therefore the entire building – are analyzed and optimized with regard to energy efficiency and comfort inside the building, using building monitoring and dynamic simulation calculations.
The requirement for primary energy must be reduced by 80 per cent in order to bring our building stock down to an almost zero carbon construction standard by 2050. The central elements in solar construction are a building shell which is adapted to the local climate, passive solar technology (thermally-insulated windows, building mass etc.), active solar technology integrated in the building (solar thermal energy, photovoltaics) with appropriately-coordinated heat and electricity storage. These elements are linked with the other technical systems in an overall building system via an intelligent controller (SMART HOME). The research at THU is working on innovative concepts for zero carbon building.
In the field of low-temperature solar thermal energy, solar thermal systems are studied, optimized and, for example, integrated with a stratified lance storage system supported by complex, dynamic simulation calculations and data collection.
Research Contact:
Institute for Energy and Drive Technologies
Prof. Gerhard Mengedoht
