Zurich/Zug – The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) has opened its Zero Carbon Building Systems Lab. It includes test cells, climate chambers and experimental rooms. Siemens has equipped this research laboratory for decarbonizing buildings with state-of-the-art digital building technology.
ETH has launched the Zero Carbon Building Systems Lab(ZCBS Lab), an experimental research facility that it describes as “groundbreaking.” There, systemic aspects of materials, energy, and human occupants for the decarbonization of buildings will be studied on a 1:1 scale and under a wide range of environmental and climatic conditions.
Siemens packed this two-story building with state-of-the-art digital building technology solutions, according to its media release. In the test cells, climatic chambers and modular test rooms, active and passive technologies of energy supply, automation and air conditioning of buildings are researched under a wide range of environmental conditions.
The ZCBS Lab was initiated by Arno Schlueter, ETH professor of architecture and building systems. The lab is closely linked to other innovative groups of the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich such as the Robotic Fabrication Lab or the Immersive Design Lab.
The “highlight of the new ETH facility” is what the release calls a room with a so-called solar emulator. There, in addition to temperature and humidity, solar effects can be simulated during the course of the day. According to Siemens, such a research facility is unique in the world.
“Our building management system lays the foundation for further developing existing ETH systems as needed and connecting them in the future to the open digital building platform Building X, which is part of Siemens Xcelerator,” Matthias Rebellius, CEO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure, is quoted as saying. Siemens has been funding the ETH Sustainable Building Technologies professorship since 2009. ce/mm
