A renovation firm in Germany has been getting a lot of attention due to their ability to make old buildings more sustainable and energy efficient, which they are doing by putting a “coat” on them so to speak.
What they do is take a 3D scan of the house, then they prefabricate wood panels in the exact same shape and scale, which they then attach to the outside of the home. In doing so, they make former inefficient buildings around Germany into net-energy producing ones.
The company, which is called Ecoworks, manufactures panels that come with built in solar panels, as well as insulation. This means that they can be installed on the building they were made precisely for, in as little as 20 minutes. Impressive, right?
Moreover, the panels are made with wood that was harvested after it achieved optimal carbon capture to make it even more eco-friendly.
Speaking with FastCompany, Ecoworks founder, Emanual Heisenberg, explained that the projects begin by taking a 3D scan of the building, including the inside, then recreating the structure as its digital twin. He said, “If you have a digital twin, you can actually automate planning, which, in a normal renovation, would take months and a lot of engineers and architects.”
During a demonstration, they showed an apartment block that was built in the 1930s that used 450 kilowatt-hours per square meter of space. Even by American standards, this is considered majorly inefficient. They placed the Ecoworks panels on the building while the company oversaw the changes in their energy consumption.
The building became so inexpensive to power, heat, and cool, that the solar panels located on the roof made it a carbon-negative building, while before, it was considered one of the least power-efficient buildings in the whole country.
Over the summer, the startup already has seven more projects lined up. They will use AI technology to see which structures will be best suited for their technology. The believe that soulless apartment blocks are the best candidates, but they are looking for ways to adapt their panels to use in schools, family homes, and even buildings in other countries.
According to Adele Peters at Fast Company, in Germany alone, 30 million buildings need renovations within the next five years to reach the prescribed climate targets.
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