Waterloo Engineering researchers have developed an innovative double-skin building façade that contains microalgae and uses machine learning to generate energy.
Led by Dr. Mohamad Araji, director of Architectural Engineering, the team optimized the cavity between a building's double-skin glass façade to expand the use of microalgae with the aim of making buildings net producers of energy, self-sustainable and independent of the power grid.
In buildings with double-skin façades, or two layers of a glass wall with a cavity between them, the space between the two walls houses a photobioreactor that grows microalgae to absorb sunlight and provide indoor shade for thermal insulation.
Using software simulation and machine learning, Araji and Adham Elmalky, a recent PhD graduate from the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, studied different geometries of building glass walls, from flat to curved surfaces, to optimize the photobioreactor’s performance. The results showed that it grew microalgae biomass by an 80 per cent increase which will help make the building more energy efficient.
“Our system has improved the use of microalgae for indoor temperature control, and we envision that with the right building infrastructure, this enhanced volume of biomass can be converted into biofuel for a building’s power generation. This system can stabilize or even reverse the potential loss of indoor heat that buildings often experience,” Elmalky said.
Go to If these walls could ... generate energy? for the full story.