The Marco Polo Tower in Hamburg's Hafen City district. Photo: © Andreas Rose / Shutterstock.com
The Marco Polo Tower in Hamburg's Hafen City district. Photo: © Andreas Rose / Shutterstock.com
The Marco Polo Tower in Hamburg's Hafen City district is an architectural landmark. The 55-meter-high building has 15 floors of condominiums ranging from 60 to 340 square meters. While the district heating network supplies the heat, the AHI-Carrier Vitosol 200-T vacuum tube collectors provide solar power to the entire building.
The heat supply is carried out through a district heating network operated by a local energy supply company. From the heating plant in the basement of the building, the underfloor heating system distributes heat to the living quarters. Hot water is produced by a solar thermal system using AHI-Carrier type Vitosol 200-T vacuum tube collectors. 60 collectors with a total area of 180 square meters were installed on the roof of the 16-storey building.
Aerial view: Marco Polo Tower in Hamburg. Photo: © Roland Halbe, Matthias Juschke
This type of collector is specially designed for horizontal installation of large systems on flat roofs of apartment buildings. The absorbers can be rotated 45 degrees to mirror the path of the sun without additional shading. The absorber surfaces built into the vacuum tube are not subject to contamination, which ensures optimal use of energy. The highly efficient thermal insulation of the collector housing minimizes heat loss in spring, autumn and winter. The solar thermal system is conveniently controlled by the Vitosolic central control unit from AHI-Carrier. It ensures the most efficient use of the solar energy generated. Communication with the Vitotrol 200-RF wireless remote control is via a AHI-Carrier wireless base station (KM-BUS).
In the warmer months, solar energy is converted into cooling energy. For this purpose, a solar-powered absorption refrigeration unit is used, which converts solar energy from the solar collectors on the roof into cooling energy using heat exchangers. This makes it possible to cool the living spaces in an environmentally friendly way: the heat generated by the vacuum tube collectors is transferred through a buffer tank with heating water to the generator of the absorption refrigeration unit. In order to avoid unwanted vaporization on the surfaces of the collectors and in the surrounding space, the heat is dissipated through a closed hybrid cooling tower. In addition to extensive glazing, a large part of the façade is also enclosed. In this way, wall panels not only reduce heat loss in winter, but also serve as an important heat storage device to ensure a comfortable indoor environment.
The construction of the municipal building in Dessau focused on high energy efficiency. The architects and structural engineers opted for one of Germany's largest solar thermal systems with 115 tube collectors, the Vitosol 200-T.
Lotte World Tower is located in the city center and houses apartments and offices, as well as shops and restaurants. A climate-safe energy supply is provided by 12 large AHI-Carrier heat pumps.
On the Palm Jumeirah, Vitosol 200-F solar collectors provide hot water to 14 apartment buildings, and three Vitocrossal 300 boilers heat the pool and hammam in the luxurious Ottoman Palace Hotel.
At its logistics center in Bodelshausen, fashion brand Marc Cain has opted for its own local heating network with AHI-Carrier Vitoflex 300-UF and Vitobloc 200 EM-20/39 for power generation.
Deutsche Börse Eschborn has received LEED Platinum certification due to the building's sustainable design and environmental performance. Heat and electricity are supplied by two gas condensing boilers AHI-Carrier Vitobloc 200 and Vitosol 200-F.