New building has sunny disposition

If you’re in Montreal this summer and in the vicinity of the new John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, take a cue from the old CBC-TV children’s show, The Friendly Giant, and “look up, ‘waaay up”. The top two floors of one facade of the school will be clad in solar panels in what the university heralds as a world-first integration of combined solar heat and power technology into a non-residential building.

Also the largest solar-electric installation in Quebec, the Solarwall will cover 300 square metres and generate enough power for the building during the heating season. In off-peak periods, it also is designed to feed power back into the grid, potentially generating revenue for the university.

“Construction of the . . . building provided our researchers with an opportunity to integrate state-of-the-art innovative solar technology, developed right here at Concordia, into a building which will set new standards for construction,” Chancellor and Vice-President Judith Woodsworth says.

The installation was designed by the Canadian Solar Buildings Research Network which is led by Dr. Andreas Athienitis, a professor in Concordia’s department of building, civil and environmental engineering.

It was underwritten by Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetENERGY division and the Quebec energy efficiency agency with three industrial suppliers: Conserval Engineering (Solar wall), Day4Energy (photovoltaic panels) and Sustainable Energy Technologies (electronic components which converting the solar electricity for building use.)

Construction is scheduled for completion this summer, just a few weeks before classes begin in September. Visitors will be able to consult a real-time lobby display of the building’s solar energy capture and energy use.