IDEAS Lecture | 29 March 2017
Alessandro VIRTUANI and Ana MARTINS will be the speakers of the next IDEAS Lecture, entitled "The Bearable Lightness of Solar Modules". It will take place on Wednesday 29 March 2017 at 12:30 pm in the IDEAS space (LE 0 10).
In this talk, Alessandro VIRTUANI and Ana MARTINS will introduce the topics of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity and Building Integrated PV (BIPV), briefly touching upon the aspects of reliability, standardization and cost-effectiveness of solar PV. In the second part, we will present our developments on Lightweight PV Modules: light, but still “robust”, panels ideally suited for applications in buildings or as portable devices.
Alessandro Virtuani is a physicist and solar enthusiast. He has a PhD in Material Sciences from the University of Milano-Bicocca and an MBA from Bocconi University. At EPFL’s PV-Lab he is responsible for the Module and Reliability group. His main research activities have focused on the development of novel materials for solar cells, performance and reliability testing of solar modules/systems, and on Building Integrated PV projects. He is a technical advisor for IFC - Word Bank on solar electricity in Africa.
Ana C. Martins is a PhD student in Material Science and Engineering at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne. She has been working on the development of a composite structure for photovoltaic building applications (BIPV) at PV-Lab. Her work is mainly focused on the design and testing of innovative lightweight sandwich structures able to survive thermal and mechanical stresses.
The axis Integrated Design, Architecture and Sustainability (IDEAS) is a joint initiative of both the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Performance-Integrated Design (LIPID) and Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) of the ENAC School at EPFL. It aims to address an increased integration of the various issues related to sustainable architecture within the framework of the Master Cycle in Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as the Doctoral program Architecture & Science of the city (EDAR).
A light lunch will be served during the presentation. For logistic aspects, participants are kindly requested to register via this link before Monday 27 March noon.