Solar Thermal Facade Systems - An Interdisciplinary Approach

To reach future Net-Zero Energy Buildings as requested by the ""Energy Performance of Buildings Directive"" (EPBD, [1]) the integration of systems for harvesting of renewable energy is decisive. Building integrated solar thermal (BIST) collectors can play an important role in this paradigm shift. In the R&D projects ArKol and TABSOLAR multidisciplinary teams develop different BIST systems for transparent and opaque facades. These solutions help trigger highly qualitative architectural integration of solar thermal collectors and are planned for future realization. This paper describes the basic layout of these systems and the current state of development.