Perini Journal
One of the most crucial bottlenecks for every industry today - from production to civil air conditioning - is the cost of energy. The SunEwat XL system produced by the Belgian company AGC uses laminated glass panels with embedded photovoltaic cells that supply appropriate solutions to architects wanting to integrate electricity production in facades, on glass roofs, sunscreens, balustrades and louvres. If the entire external surfaces of the building are used, energy performance is greatly enhanced. The principle behind this proposal is very simple: monocrystalline or polycrystalline photovoltaic cells are embedded in a sheet of laminated safety glass. The modules are made to order (various sizes and electrical capacities are possible) and can be customized for each project. They can also be combined with other glass products (double glazing, screen-printed glass, colored glass, etc.) to boost comfort levels, for example thermal insulation, or for design purposes. Moreover, the modules can make a significant contribution to winning points for LEED certification and credits for the BREEAM International New Construction certification system.
GREEN WALLS.
The experiences that lead to integrating green in urban buildings are multiplying. In Paris, some external walls of the Musée du quai Branly are cladded with a thick intertwining of vegetation and in Milan, architect Stefano Boeri is completing his “Bosco verticale” (Vertical forest): a pair of residential towers in a height of 119 meters and 87 meters that will host more than 900 trees. Stefano Laprocina, founder of the company Verde Profilo, proposes solutions also for internal walls with his Moss Wall&Project. Using stabilized natural lichen mounted on MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) panels it is possible to clad the walls of our homes or the representational areas of shops and companies in soft, natural or colored moss. Once installed, the vertical garden does not require any type of maintenance at all and is preserved intact through the years in all environments having a minimum humidity level of 40%.
RECYCLING FABRIC.
Demodé is a new material created using salvage textiles. Ripped into strips, mixed with a modified starch-based adhesive, 100% biodegradable, processed in a high temperature press: this is how rags come to new life. It is proposed as wall tiling in light-weight, compact panels (40 x 40 cm and 20 x 20 cm standard formats, thickness between 10 and 30 mm) in several colors or it can be used to create furniture (chairs, stools…) and design objects. Thanks to its workability (it can be easily drilled, sawed, honed, fixed with screws, glued and bonded to other materials, etc.), Demodé can be used for lots of different projects.
Demodé’s Chilean producers hope to solve the problem of high percentage of waste textiles from the Chilean Industries that end up in landfills, mainly concentrated in the Recoleta district of the city of Santiago; in that city alone about 46 thousand tons of this type of waste are disposed of each year.
FIGHTING NOISE POLLUTION.
Within a building, noise sources spread in many different directions; the sound energy coming from a point is distributed in the whole room. This energy is partially transmitted, in other parts absorbed and reflected. The noise interferes not only with oral communication, but also, in general, noises can negatively affect concentration. People working in open space environments know this problem well. The ECOlines sound-absorbing panels proposed by Slalom brilliantly solve this problem by answering the criteria of flexibility, acoustics and ecology. The system’s structure allows creating modular, easily modifiable working spaces. The single-element panels made of 100% polyester fiber use technological innovations to reduce environmental impact to a minimum and are born from the desire to give new value to recycled materials (PET) in order to create a new range of panels which are at the same time recycled and recyclable at the end of their life cycle.
TAILOR-MADE PACKAGING.
We know that risks in transporting materials are always high. To properly protect fragile or sensitive products, DUNAPACK™ has perfected a system that encapsulates the object to be transported inside customized protective cushions made of polyurethane material, custom-produced by a special machine based on requirements. The versatility of the system allows meeting the most diverse demands in terms of shape, weight and fragility level, constituting the best form of packaging for every type of object, from very light-weight items (for example lighting equipment, glass, lightweight mechanics, etc.) to heavier ones, offering cushion densities that meet protection needs. The material expands up to 280 times its initial volume, thus eliminating handling needs and dedicated warehouse space.
And, speaking of warehousing, we must not forget that the pallets, too - the wooden bases that facilitate goods handling - can be produced in virtuous fashion. EcoPallet® is a brand that serves as a guarantee to the consumer for every aspect concerning pallets: from the origin of the raw materials used to the ways the product is manufactured, catering to all the phases of the Forest-Wood-Consumer supply chain within Corporate Social Responsibility projects that the most attentive and sensitive companies are developing, coherently with their reference values. * nz