The project entitled "A Study of Energy Harvesting and Fire Hazards Associated with Double-Skin Green Façades of Tall Green Buildings" led by Prof. Cheuk Lun CHOW, associate professor of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering of City University of Hong Kong, was awarded for the 2022/23 Research Impact Fund (RIF) and received an allocation of HK$6.9 million.
Double-skin facades (DSFs) can provide passive building solar control. Putting in plants to create double-skin green façades (DSGFs) can reduce solar heat gain. A new energy harvesting system using appropriate plants can convert solar energy to chemical and electrical energy. This gives a new and clean energy source in second-generation green buildings. However, dry plants and other combustible components can be ignited easily. The subsequent conflagration would emit vast quantities of hot toxic gases and particulate matter that would be trapped in the façade cavity. Breaking the interior glass skin would spread smoke to upper rooms.
By collaborating with the scientific research team of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, this project will research and develop fire-resistant DSGFs with energy collection design in high-rise green buildings. Research on energy harvesting systems will be conducted on the basis of photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (MFCs), aiming to improve the energy harvesting efficiency of MFCs. In terms of fire protection considerations, the team will conduct tests on three plants commonly used in DSGFs, including Hedera helix, Matteuccia struthiopteris or Jia Guo Jue, and Cynodondactylon (Linn.) Pers. (bermudagrass).
The research will conduct physical experiments on DSGFs with the above-mentioned plants through scale models and data simulations, and will conduct tests in areas with large indoor and outdoor temperature differences, such as Harbin, China, in order to more clearly analyze the spread of fire caused by the stack effect phenomenon. The team further hopes to provide relevant government departments with fire protection guidelines for green building exterior walls and bring efficient and safe clean energy systems to society.
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