PVSEC, speech 21st of September 2009
The Carbon Neutral Workspace | Authors
Main author:
Katrine Flarup Jensen
M. Sc. In Engineering
Faktor 3 ApS
Barbara Bentzen
Industrial Designer
Faktor 3 ApS
Peter Poulsen
M. Sc. Materials Science
Risoe DTU Fotonik
and Carsten Dam-Hansen
Senior Scientist
Risoe DTU Fotonik
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Background
Several studies have shown that the standby power consumption
in accounts for about 10% of house-hold electrical energy
consumption in the western countries.
For US – This amounts to about 20 typical power stations
Can PV do something?
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Case: The electrical table
Standby = 2 W
pr. year: 18 kWh
5€ pr. year in DK
Always ON
Operation = 500W
pr. year: 0.5 kWh
0.13 € pr yr in DK
Basis 1 hour use
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| The idea and partners
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Partners
Faktor 3
DTU Photonics
Faktor 3
DJOB
Engineering
Design
LINAK
Gaia Solar
DJOB
Industry
Research
DTU Photonics
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Electrical configuration
Standby use: 2W – far too much for PV
The Carbon Neutral Work Space | Electrical system
2W consumption
Actuators
AC/DC
converter
User
interface
350µW MPU
Wall plug
Efficient for high power
The Carbon Neutral Work Space | Electrical system
0W consumption
Actuators
User
interface
350µW MPU
AC/DC
converter
PV/small
battery
Wall plug
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Technical survey
of PV and light measurements in an office space
The Danish Building Code contains regulations to ensure good indoor climate in
office spaces, and prescribes that the Daylight Factor (DF) in work space level of
0.85 m above floor level, must be minimum 2%.
DF % 
E in
100
E ext
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Technical survey
of PV and light measurements in an office space
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| LED Sun
LED targets
400 nm
450 nm
…
1000 nm
1-50 W/m2
All targets
Integrating Sphere
LED Target
LED Target
Measuring spot
30x30 cm
IV Characterization
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Dimensioning of PV system
DF Calculations (2%)
Solar radiation i DK
Worst case scenarios
PV System measurements
The Carbon Neutral Work Space | Design process
The 3 chosen solar cells chosen for this product:
1. SunPower ® cells
2. Kyosemi Sphelar® panels
3. Blotting pad with Risoe DTU flexible organic cells
Theses cells went through a design process mainly driven by Montana and Faktor 3.
The Carbon Neutral Work Space | SunPower
1. SunPower ® cells integrated in
plug well in table top.
The cells look as though they’re
floating in the glass, and matches
the elegant designs of Montana
furnitures.
The Carbon Neutral Work Space | Kyosemi
2. Kyosemi Sphelar ®
panels integrated in
dividing wall.
The small spheres
create privacy between
the work spaces, and at
the same time permits
light to travel through.
The Carbon Neutral Work Space | Risoe DTU
3. Blotting pad with Risoe
DTU flexible organic cells.
The organic cells produced
in Denmark are very
interesting, because of their
expected very low price in
production, as well because
of the many design
possiblities they open up for.
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| The Product
CODE 09 in
Bella Fair
Center and in
the Montana
show room in
Copenhagen,
under the
Danish yearly
furniture fair.
The Carbon Neutral Work Space | Is it profitable
Standby = 2 W
pr. year: 18 kWh
5€ pr. year in DK
Normal = 500W
pr. year: 0.5 kWh
0.13 €
Basis 1 hour use
Sun Power A-300 based
10€ for the panel and electronics
Pay back time – 2 years
(based on 1000 pcs.)
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Provisional conclusion
1. Standby consumption of an electrical adjustable table can be covered by PV cells
integrated in the table.
2. Three different prototypes with focus on design, PV technology and the end-user are
developed.
3. A general approach for integrating PV (in indoor appliances):
a) Definition of surrounding conditions (light quality and intensity)
b) Energy consumption of appliance determined
c) Can the energy consumption be reduced?
d) Type of PV chosen on basis of a) and b)
DC directly
e) Dimensioning of PV
into the system
f) Modification of electrical circuit
g) Integration in product
Bypass AC
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Future outlook
YES – PV can actually do something to
prevent stand by consumption.
YES – PV can do more for you than you
think.
Working on RF and IR models of electrical
tables to integrate PV also.
The Carbon Neutral Workspace| Acknowledgements
Thank you
The work described in this paper
is funded by the Danish Energy
Association - project no: 340-047.
Thank you to the project partners.