The Ko Lee Institute of Sustainable Environments, Centre for Sustainable Energy Technology (CSET)
The Ko Lee Institute of Sustainable Environments is led by Nottingham's Department of Architecture and Built Environment, which has a world-wide reputation for research and teaching in the field of sustainable design, energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. Within the Institute, the Centre for Sustainable Energy Technology (CSET) will engage in research in this vitally important area and provide post-graduate taught courses linked to established courses in Nottingham.
The Centre is based in the new building designed by Mario Cucinella of Bologna, Italy (special Professor at the Nottingham SBE. See MCA site ). The building will provide laboratory, office and seminar accommodation and has been designed to serve as an exemplar building, demonstrating state-of-the-art techniques for environmentally responsible, sustainable construction.
This building has been designed to minimize its environmental impact by promoting energy efficiency, generating its own energy from renewable sources, using locally available materials with low embodied energy, storing rainwater and re-using grey water where appropriate, and attempting to develop its own ecology and biodiversity within the site. It is intended that this building will not require conventional heating or cooling systems, and residual energy requirements will be met by renewable sources.
The primary function of the new building is to provide a specialist research laboratory for staff and post-graduate students within the new Centre for Sustainable Energy Technology. The focus of research will be new and renewable energy systems and components for both domestic (housing) and non-domestic (commercial and public) buildings. The building will provide a facility for developing and testing the new technologies in collaboration with local and international industrial partners.
It is proposed that, over a period of three years, the laboratory will include the following facilities: Climate Chamber, Thermal Testing lab for materials and components, Façade Testing facility, Daylight and Solar modelling lab, Wind tunnel facility and test rigs for the development of new technologies. The building will additionally allow for the integration of a weather station, solar thermal and PV panels and wind turbines adjacent to the building.
Linked to the laboratory facilities, will be a workshop for fabrication of experimental rigs etc. The tower incorporates a research studio/teaching room, a resource room as well as offices, meeting rooms and permanent display space. The exhibition space will provide a platform for communicating the latest developments in sustainable energy and construction technologies, both regionally in China and Internationally.
The new CSET building in Ningbo will act as a beacon, both literally and metaphorically, illuminating the way forward for a sustainable approach to building design and construction in China, and demonstrating the contribution that sustainable energy technologies can make to the low carbon economy of the future.