Beijing building solar walls for Olympics

Beijing is cleaning up its act for the Olympics by cutting cars and cleaning up algae sludge -- but that’s not all the city is doing.

Such a popular event is the perfect place for businesses to showcase their green projects. That thought crossed the minds of SolarWall, Conserval Engineering, Natural Resources Canada, and the Olympic Village developers, who all partnered up to create one of the world’s first SolarWall PV/thermal hybrid systems.

Mounted on the roof of one of the buildings used for athletes during the Olympics, the system produces both electricity and heat energy from the same surface area, beating out regular old PV systems by 200% to 300% more energy.

The system thus reduces payback time, reduces CO2 emissions, and maximizes available surface space. The same building is also home to SolarWall’s conventional air heating system, getting the most eco-bang for its buck.

With worries about athletes breathing in so much scary air over there, having clean-running technology like this is one of those "the more the merrier" installations.

Via Renewable Energy World; Photo via SolarWall press release