McMaster University’s New Engineering Lab to Study Energy Use

Canadian Architecture magazine reports that McMaster University in Hamilton, ON has broken ground for the Gerald Hatch Centre for Engineering Experiential Learning. The 2600-square-metre building, designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, will house the new Research Facility for Integrated Building Energy Harvesting Systems (ReFIBES), the only test facility of its kind in North America.

A $2-million grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) will enable the facility to study green energy and investigate new ways to capture energy supply that is lost during transmission.

“The building itself will be very much a learning laboratory that incorporates means of storing, measuring and analyzing energy use,” said Sarah Low, Associate, Diamond Schmitt Architects. Among the features of this LEED Silver target facility, reports Canadian Architect, will be
•    sensors in the façade to measure and analyze vision glass and exterior façade performance and
•    a geothermal field for research into the storage of energy collected from a variety of sources. The roof will house
•    a Solar Spectrum monitor, a Solar Spectrum Simulator and a Photovoltaic array on the roof to collect and analyze solar energy

The facility will harvest electrical, thermal and fuel energy where it naturally converges—in buildings — and be a testing ground to prove the energy efficiency of developing similar, smaller, community-based facilities.

Read the full article here: https://www.canadianarchitect.com/architecture/mcmaster-university-engineering-lab-to-study-energy-use/1003729501/.