A German company asked a simple question, “Why do we have to tear down older apartment buildings and replace them with new Net Zero ones?”
That question led to a new prefabricated ‘second skin’ that can envelop the building. Ecoworks, located in Germany, was founded on a simple answer.
Inside their factory, robots assemble panels molded to fit precisely over the walls of an old apartment building like a second skin, with built-in insulation designed to help the building dramatically cut energy use. It’s part of a system aimed at solving one of the challenges of transitioning to a net-zero world: With so many outdated, inefficient buildings, which are a major source of global climate emissions, the traditional retrofitting process is painfully slow.
Ecoworks, the German startup behind the new system, starts by taking a 3D scan of an old building, both inside and out, creating a digital twin of the structure. “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,” says founder Emanuel Heisenberg.
The plans can be sent to its suppliers and a factory, where nearly everything is built in advance; each panel includes windows, ventilation, and channels for pipes. A modular roof has built-in solar panels.
On site, construction workers can install a facade panel in as little as 20 minutes. Converting an entire building, including replacing fossil-powered heat, can happen in weeks, compared to the months or years needed in a project using traditional construction.
CLICK HERE to read the entire Fast Company article
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Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
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