2 March 2010
Geoff Wilson
Director (Australia), World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN)
President, Green Infrastructure Network Australia Inc.
Email: wilson.geoff@optusnet.com.au
Website: http://www.gina.org.au/
A research and demonstration project planned for seven Australian cities will show how simple greenery can cool rooftop solar cells for an average increase of around 10% in power production.
The projects are expected to run in seven Australian cities by the end of 2010. A prime objective is to have clear, city-by-city, Australian-based information, of the big advantages of solar power cell cooling via rooftop greenery.
The R&D will clearly show how the greenery cooling advantage will benefit solar power units in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Other Australian cities may be added to the R&D program as interest grows.
In February, the seven chosen Australian cities had half-day lectures and talks on how urban greenery cooling can increase Australian solar power electricity yield anything from 1% to 25% (with an average increase of around 10% a year recorded in Brisbane in 2009).
According to Geoff Wilson, President of Green Infrastructure Network Australia Inc., the new program is expected to well-boost solar power output from homes and businesses installing solar power cell units over green roofs.
Representatives of the following universities have expressed interest in being part of GINA Inc’s national R&D effort on greenery and solar power. They are:
• Queensland University of Technology.
• The University of Queensland.
• University of New South Wales.
• Australian National University, Canberra.
• Murdoch University, Perth.
Mr Wilson said other universities would be asked to participate, in company with Australia’s expanding number of green roof and green wall businesses. He also said a greenery-solar research and demonstration project is simple in concept, and relatively inexpensive to construct. University student greenery-energy projects are expected to be most feasible.
Germany, which has 30 years experience with rooftop greenery, already cools solar power collectors for 2% to 12% greater efficiency. It is rapidly-expanding their use.
This important point was outlined around Australia from February 3 to 21 by Professor Manfred Kohler from Germany’s University of Applied Sciences in Neubrandenburg, where he founded the Green Roof Research Centre. He visited Australia as president of the 19-country World Green Infrastructure Network based in Toronto, Canada.
Professor Kohler’s February talks about German solar power advances were supported by University of Queensland student, Brian Chua who, in his 2009 research and thesis, showed that scientists of Queensland Department of Public Works were correct about greenery and solar power combinations. Maximum solar power is provided at 25 degrees C. For every one degree in temperature rise, electricity-producing efficiency drops 0.5%. Australian rooftop temperature can rise to 70 degrees C or higher.
The Queensland scientists’ figuring in 2008 had shown the increased potential in Australia for Germany’s well-proven finding that solar power units were much more efficient if cooled naturally by the evapo-transpirations effects of rooftop greenery underneath.
Germany has about half the world’s solar power cells. They connect with its national grid electricity supply. About a quarter of Germany’s electrical power is expected to be from solar sources in less than 10 years — at cheaper-than-coal power costs. Coal-based electrical power was expected to soon decline in Germany to save carbon emissions.
An objective of Mr Chua is a national program of practical demonstrations of the rooftop greenery-and-solar-power advantages. He is supported in this by Green Infrastructure Network Australia Inc.
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