A breath of fresh air for urban design: PowerNEST and OpenRemote take sustainable living to new heights

Eindhoven

In Strijp-S, the industrial heritage site of the former Philips lighting factories that now makes up the dynamic heart of Eindhoven, Trudo’s latest social housing development projects are leading the way for affordable and sustainable living with two new smart buildings. The first one is the ‘Haasje Over’ residence, to be built above one of the largest skate halls in Europe, and topped by a PowerNEST, an innovative rooftop structure combining a wind turbine with solar panels to generate renewable energy. The second one is the impressive ‘Trudo Toren’, a 70-metre-high residential tower integrating a vertical forest.

This social housing project brings together modern design, renewable energy and advanced IoT technology, demonstrating the latest trends in smart urban residential development.

The PowerNEST is a breakthrough solution providing renewable energy for high-rise buildings, using limited roof space to generate as much energy as possible. Alexander Suma, CEO of IBIS Power, describes the process: “Underneath a solar roof, a system of funnels and turbines is installed along the roof edge to capture the wind flow from the building façade and accelerate it towards the turbines. The concentrated air flow drives the turbines, generating energy even from the slightest breeze. Architecturally integrated into the building design, this innovative wind and solar combination generates six times more energy per square metre than common roof solar solutions and delivers an attractive payback time.” Installed on the rooftop of both buildings, PowerNEST will produce 125,000 kWh per year.

Shared lighting, electric vehicle chargers, and elevators are just some of the solutions installed in the buildings. Using OpenRemote’s open-source IoT for data flows means that all these solutions are connected. Pierre Kil, CEO of OpenRemote explained: “Energy management consists of predicting renewable energy generation by wind and solar to optimise energy consumption. By connecting the monitoring and control of assets in a single platform, workflows are improved, maintenance is facilitated, and new energy-saving applications can be created. We are exploring different options, such as coordinating energy consumption within the buildings, adding battery storage to reduce installed grid capacity, encouraging energy cooperation with residents, and even distributing energy across other on-site Trudo buildings.”

Fieke van den Beuken, Trudo project manager for the two buildings described the ambition that drives the project: “Our aim is to create an attractive living environment for people with a modest income. For these two housing projects, we aim to set a new standard for urban developments, by incorporating renewable energy, state-of-the-art energy management technologies and adding green facades to reduce COemissions and generate energy savings.”

About Trudo

Trudo is an Eindhoven housing association that often does things slightly differently. The focus is not on real estate, but on accommodating people. Together with the many parties in our network, we aim to facilitate social progress.. Our core values ​​are “Innovation”, “Audacity” and “Connectivity”. Trudo wants to stand out as an innovative corporation, creating bold initiatives which bring together diverse organizations to improve the quality of life in city neighbourhoods. Trudo’s latest social housing development projects, ‘Haasje Over’ and ‘Trudo Toren’ have received subsidies from Stimulus, OPZuid and the EU fund for regional development. https://www.trudo.nl/over-sint-trudo

About Ibis Power  

IBIS Power is an award-winning company providing effective, innovative renewable energy solutions with highest impact to society. Their integrated wind and solar roof energy solution (PowerNEST) is a roof-mounted structure providing solar and wind energy for high standing residential or commercial properties. Its internal turbine uses smart aerodynamics making it more efficient than any free-standing small wind turbine and more efficient solar panels. It generates as much energy as possible on the limited roof space of high-rises, delivering an attractive payback time. In addition, PowerNEST can be customized to blend with the architectural design thus increasing the aesthetical value of the building.

About OpenRemote

Started in 2015, OpenRemote is a professional open source IoT project, whose ambition is to overcome the challenges of integrating many different communication protocols and data sources into a single, easy to use data management solution. The OpenRemote platform integrates all data, sensors, and controls to access them centrally, transforming data into information and supporting the design of customised mobile applications for client projects. OpenRemote also offers clients the services to assess their challenges and design, build and manage their IoT applications. Our 100% open-source solution can be applied to the management of any asset class, such as vehicle fleets, energy systems or crowd management; helping buildings, cities, airports, hospitals, and many other sectors to become smarter. For more information, please visit www.openremote.io

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