Smart solar facade wins the Watt d’Or Energy Award

Solar facade panels developed by the group working under ETH Professor Arno Schlüter follow the sun’s position in the sky and in this way harvest more energy. The technology has now been awarded the Watt D'Or Energy Award

The Watt d'Or is granted each year in early January by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. It is awarded to the best performing energy innovation.

Just like sunflowers, the lightweight panels of the adaptive solar facade follow the sun’s path and, in this way, maximise the amount of energy harvested. In the same way as smart blinds, they can also regulate a building’s exposure to sunlight. Depending on the outside temperature and a room’s use, they provide shade or let the sun’s rays through, thus saving energy that would otherwise be needed for heating or cooling.

Prototypes of the facade have already been used in Empa’s NEST innovation building in Dübendorf1. The Startup firm Zurich Soft Robotics, founded at the start of 2022, is now working on bringing the façade paneld to market under the name of Solskin.

1 More on Empa’s NEST innovation building can be found HERE>

ETH Zurich>