What is the Zero Energy Lab?
The zero energy lab is a place for students, faculty and corporate sponsors to examine new ideas in energy management and energy production, located on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. The lab is under construction in the top floor of a 1900 brick and sandstone building. The only heat is from steam piping and valves that run through the space. Virtually no lighting exists. It was built with a sawtooth roof with north facing operable windows. In the early 1900′s it was a foundry with furnaces for forming steel. The original sinks and toilets were removed many years ago, but plumbing piping still remains.
The Zero Energy Lab is a working laboratory where architecture and engineering students develop low energy consuming products not currently available commercially. A 5500 watt PV array is our starting point. Students develop products to light the space, and provide heat, cooling and ventilation using the least wattage possible. The only connection to the grid is a trickle charge to the battery bank in the event that the current PV capacity is exceeded..
The Zero Energy Lab is documented through ongoing Interprofessional Projects courses (IPRO) under the direction of the professor, Nancy Hamill Governale. Corporate sponsors fund much of the work and in return share in the information and data obtained. If you want to find out more about funding an IPRO, contact nancy@zeroenergylab.net.
