First Energy Neutral Building Pulse on TU Delft Campus Officially Opened
August 30, 2018
The energy-neutral building Pulse on the campus of the University of Delft was festively opened.
DC System on A Secure 350V Smart DC Grid
Pulse has the scoop of being the very first building on a university campus that is energy-neutral. Direct Current BV supplied the technology and the DC system to connect everything that works on direct current (DC) to a secure 350V DC grid. The DC system and the Current/OS safety system is an innovation by Direct Current BV. Almost all devices in the building operate on DC, for example the 490 solar panels (750 m²) on the roof, heat storage in the ground, the LED lighting, USB connection points for computers, mobile phones, and more. By directly connecting all DC products directly to the smart DC grid, a lot of energy and material is saved.
Sustainability in Design
In addition to teaching rooms, the building offers space on the ground floor for catering establishments with approx. 200 seats for relaxation and self-study. An intelligent building management system ventilates, illuminates, cools and heats the various rooms in Pulse depending on usage. The façade openings have been designed in such a way that optimum use is made of daylight. This means less need for artificial light and therefore less energy.
Prof.dr.ir. Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Professor of Climate Design & Sustainability at the Faculty of Architecture, was involved in the development to realize this. Together with students and teachers, the design was realized in collaboration with Royal HaskoningDHV (construction & project management), Valstar Simonis (technical installations) and DGMR (building physics, sustainability and fire safety). The combination Hurks (contractor) and Kuijpers (installer) realized the building.