In the not-too-distant future, a building could slash its traditional energy consumption by up to 95 percent by installing high-tech walls that essentially breathe to control the inside temperature, according to a proposal by a team of researchers at the University of Colorado.
Officials with the National Science Foundation announced Wednesday that CU was chosen to receive a $1.97 million grant to develop technology for a "living wall."
The wall, as the CU team of engineers and architects proposes, would use channels of advanced polymers to naturally heat or cool homes similar to how the human body regulates its temperature.
"What we are envisioning is actually having a wall that has a vascular network inside," said Kurt Maute, an associate professor with CU's aerospace engineering sciences department.
The network, Maute said, could include channels of air or synthetic liquids that react to changes in temperature and circulate air through a porous surface.
"Both systems will essentially help either pump heat from the inside to the outside, or from the outside into the inside," Maute said.
But several challenges remain for the team.
First, they have to create a liquid -- from scratch -- that moves on its own based on shifts in temperature. There's also the challenge of making the panels visually appealing to homeowners.
"Our real goal is to make this stuff completely transparent" so that they could double as a type of natural skylight or be painted over to blend in with contemporary architecture, Maute said.
The team will also have to address practical issues such as maintenance and what happens if a homeowner puts a nail through the gel while hanging a picture.
"Cost will be a big issue, ease of handling will be a big issue," Maute said.
The professor said he thinks that, if the research goes well, the living-wall concept could have a commercial application within 20 years.
"I hope we can get there," he said.
Fred Andreas, an architect and adjunct professor at CU's Denver campus, will work with the research team to figure out how to integrate the living walls into new and existing structures, and how that changes traditional design elements.
"It's not only the nuts and bolts," he said. "It's also figuring out how this wall would interact with the building itself."
Andreas, who teaches graduate courses on green construction, said the prospect of moving heating and air conditioning into the walls of a building could be a quantum leap toward achieving carbon-neutral structures.
"This could potentially move future designs and retrofits of future designs toward that goal," he said.
The research team will be led by John Zhai, an associate professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at CU who specializes in sustainable building design and the study of indoor environmental quality.
Also on the team are Jerry Qi and Yifu Ding of CU's mechanical engineering department.
Contact Camera staff writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328, or email@example.com.