In Strijp-S, the industrial heritage site of the former Philips lighting factories that now makes up the dynamic heart of Eindhoven, Trudo’s latest social housing development projects are leading the way for affordable and sustainable living with two new smart buildings. The first one is the ‘Haasje Over’ residence, to be built above one of the largest skate halls in Europe, and topped by a PowerNEST, an innovative rooftop structure combining a wind turbine with solar panels to generate renewable energy. The second one is the impressive ‘Trudo Toren’, a 70-metre-high residential tower integrating a vertical forest.

This social housing project brings together modern design, renewable energy and advanced IoT technology, demonstrating the latest trends in smart urban residential development.

The PowerNEST is a breakthrough solution providing renewable energy for high-rise buildings, using limited roof space to generate as much energy as possible. Alexander Suma, CEO of IBIS Power, describes the process: “Underneath a solar roof, a system of funnels and turbines is installed along the roof edge to capture the wind flow from the building façade and accelerate it towards the turbines. The concentrated air flow drives the turbines, generating energy even from the slightest breeze. Architecturally integrated into the building design, this innovative wind and solar combination generates six times more energy per square metre than common roof solar solutions and delivers an attractive payback time.” Installed on the rooftop of both buildings, PowerNEST will produce 125,000 kWh per year.

Shared lighting, electric vehicle chargers, and elevators are just some of the solutions installed in the buildings. Using OpenRemote’s open-source IoT for data flows means that all these solutions are connected. Pierre Kil, CEO of OpenRemote explained: “Energy management consists of predicting renewable energy generation by wind and solar to optimise energy consumption. By connecting the monitoring and control of assets in a single platform, workflows are improved, maintenance is facilitated, and new energy-saving applications can be created. We are exploring different options, such as coordinating energy consumption within the buildings, adding battery storage to reduce installed grid capacity, encouraging energy cooperation with residents, and even distributing energy across other on-site Trudo buildings.”

Fieke van den Beuken, Trudo project manager for the two buildings described the ambition that drives the project: “Our aim is to create an attractive living environment for people with a modest income. For these two housing projects, we aim to set a new standard for urban developments, by incorporating renewable energy, state-of-the-art energy management technologies and adding green facades to reduce CO2 emissions and generate energy savings.”