This new building I designed in my Adelaide Architectural Practice is cutting edge technology and a world first. By using solar tiles
across the entire roof the hope is to provide more electricity and
heating than the existing house, new Pool-house and swimming pool can
consume. The product we are using to power and heat this new development is an Australian photo-voltaic roof tile called "Tractile".
Building Integrated PV Roofing Tiles
Winning Australian Design awards for its innovation, Tractile is the first building integrated photo-voltaic thermal (BIPV-T) product on the market. As the product is "building integrated" there is no need for a secondary cladding underneath. Tractile is a roofing tile formed from a composite material that has a photovoltaic upper surface and a series of water cooled fins underneath. The individual photo-voltaic tiles have electric and hydraulic connections that allow them to be connected together to make up as big an array as required. Other options in the Tractile range are similar looking tiles that only heat water, as well as ones that are just roof cladding. As all the tiles look the same the roof looks more aesthetically pleasing that one with retrofit PV units on top.
Off the Grid
All that excess power needs to be stored somewhere or put back into the Grid. Two Tesla Power walls will store the energy for use at night and during sub-optimal days. Tesla also has a roofing product for use with its power walls, but the specifications of the Australian product where so impressive it was the natural choice for this project. By using solar tiles
across the entire roof the hope is to provide more electricity and
heating than the existing house, new Pool-house and swimming pool can
consume which will enable the owners to be "off the grid".
Hydronic Heating
Not impressed yet? I haven't mentioned that the water used to cool the solar cells down gives them a much more efficient energy creation profile...up to a 100% improvement over standard PV cells. In addition this water jacket on the underside of the tile can be used to keep the house both warm and cool. The heat collected in the water isn't wasted as it will be used as a hydronic heat source in winter. Tractiles waste hot water will be used to heat the house by placing high density polyethelene tubing in the floorslab and connecting it to the Tractile manifolds. A simple heat exchange between water and concrete allows the water to be pumped back up to the roof at a cooler temperature to repeat the cycle. Underground ballast tanks connected to the roofs gutter collect rainwater that will be used to dissipate the heat in summer.
Pool Heating
Additional heat can be exchanged via the 70kl swimming pool by using it
to keep the water within a nice swimming range in summer. The pool (without the pool-house) was the initial brief for this project, but the more the clients learned about Tractile the more their brief changed. Initially the idea was to include a small outbuilding for solar heating but as they analysed the benefits this was upgraded to become the 160sqm pool-house. The pool-house design will be used as a party room/bar as well as guest accommodation. The pool-house is essentially a moderate sized house with a mono pitched roof facing North. Although this is only a single storey house the roof is elevated to the height of a two storey building to both give it the solar access it requires and give the party space some visual drama. At night when the lights are on the roof will appear to float as there is a continuous band of highlight windows underneath it.
Not Quite Goodbye
After 10 years it seems that Google no longer loves me and I need to move with the times and have a smaller, mobile-friendly website. As a consequence it has been a while since I have posted much here as I have been spending my spare time building my new website. Although I will be posting less frequently, this (my original) website will continue to be on-line as it is crammed with lots of information and facts about what an Architect does, Architectural documentation, the Building Industry, planning and building approval processes as well as previous projects.
My new website is mainly a portfolio of recent domestic houses, house extensions and up-market swimming pools that I have designed. It also has a new blog which will be concentrating mainly on the small business aspect of Architecture, 3d design and documentation with Sketchup. In addition I will be posting regularly about this new Energy efficient build, currently under construction during 2018.
