IEA SHC Task 66: Solar Energy Buildings – Presentation of final results

Dr. Harald Drück is the leader of the team on “Sustainable Buildings and Smart City Concepts” as well as head of R&D and at the Institute for Building Energetics, Thermotechnology and Energy Storage (IGTE) at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. His scientific focus is predominately related to renewable energy supply concepts for buildings and districts with high solar fractions, heat storage technologies as well as the development of performance test methods and certification schemes for solar systems and their components for domestic hot water production, space heating, industrial processes and solar thermal cooling.

Nationally and internationally, Dr. Harald Drück works as a consultant for a large number of public and private clients. Among others he is the manager of IEA SHC Task 66 on Solar Energy Buildings. In addition, he is involved in numerous national and international working groups and committees, e.g. as Honorary Chairman of the Solar Keymark Network and Chairman of the Global Solar Certification Network, the European Standardisation Committee CEN TC 312 and the international Standardisation Committee ISO TC 180.
In addition to his work at the University of Stuttgart, Harald Drück is also head of SWT (Solar- und Wärmetechnik Stuttgart / Solar Heat Technology Stuttgart), one of the leading service providers in the field of solar thermal technology and adjunct Professor an der Raiagiri School of Engineering and Technology in Kochi, India.

Frank started working on solar technologies 38 years ago by founding and establishing the “Solar Institute Juelich” (SIJ) and carrying out research projects in various fields of renewable energies. Starting in 2000, he headed a company for the production of solar absorbers using an innovative production method for 3 years. After some more years in solar research at the SIJ, he changed to the industry heading the R&D-department “Solar Energy” at the company Rehau. Since 2014, Frank is a Professor at Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Amberg-Weiden (OTH-AW, East Bavarian Technical University of Applied Sciences), Germany, teaching and working in the R&D fields of Energy Efficient Buildings and Renewable Energies. Additionally, Frank is an Internationalization Officer of the faculty of “Mechanical and Environmental Engineering” and head of various study programs.

Elsabet Nielsen is a senior researcher at the Technical University of Denmark. She has worked with the development, testing, and mathematical modeling of solar energy systems and components for over 25 years. Elsabet Nielsen is the leader of IEA SHC Task 66 Subtask BC. Subtask BC is co-led by Xinyu Zhang and Wenbo Cai from the China Academy of Building Research.

Michael Gumhalter is a scientific researcher at AEE INTEC in Gleisdorf, Austria. His focus is on the system integration of renewable energy technologies. As an electrical engineer and wit broad experience in software development and thermal building simulation, he is developing model-based control methods for buildings and renewable energy systems. He holds a degree in Energy Systems and Automation Technology from the Technical University of Vienna. Besides his work as a scientific researcher, he is an independent lecturer at the University of Applied Science FH Burgenland on the topic of building simulation.

Zanil Narsing has a mechanical engineering bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a dual-master’s degree in Renewable Energy Engineering through InnoEnergy, KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, and Instituto Superior Técnico Lisboa. He has worked as a mechanical design engineer for the aerospace avionics sector in the United States before moving to Europe to study and work in renewable energy. Zanil now works with Naked Energy to develop international markets for solar thermal. He helps their partner organizations technically and commercially by developing projects and designing solar thermal systems. Currently, Zanil is focused on solar thermal applications for hybrid solutions and expanding the solar PVT market.