The basic tenor at the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences "Fassade23" event was a strong increase in interest in the building sector for solar and other sustainable solutions. For example, Saint Gobain presented a window glass with a reduced ecological footprint by using a higher recycled content in production.

An exciting overview of the history and development of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) was given by Prof. Thomas Stark from HTWG Konstanz. This ranged from the first courses in Baden-Württemberg at the end of the nineties to the first architectural prizes in 2001 to current solutions, among which the Westspitze Tübingen building designed with our SKALA modules was also mentioned.

However, both Mr. Stark and Christoph Erban from Sunovation also identified significant hurdles for the large-scale expansion of BIPV: unclear situations in standardization and building law as well as a lack of networking among the players mean that even more than 20 years after the first solar facades, many BIPV projects still have the character of pilot projects.

The display objects and hand samples at our small exhibition booth generated great interest among the conference participants. By supporting and participating in such events, we want to help ensure that energy can be generated where it is needed and that unused building envelopes become energy-generating facades.