By Gary Thomas
Globally, the need for buildings that save energy and reduce environmental impact is increasing and hence, architects are looking for green, sustainable designs. However, designing such buildings is not easy, as it depends on various factors, including cost, climate, geography and locations.
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Green Prefab, a direct spin off from Italy-based Collaboratorio’s participation in the VENUS-C project, solves the problem by making advancements in cloud computing. Collaboratorio has established the Green Prefab platform to offer joint cloud computing services, as well as applications to support contractors, engineers and architects across the world to design, model and evaluate the environmental impact of structures.
Green Prefab allows architects to assess the type of building design that is most suitable for the local and urban environment. The platform includes tools that can model and envision the lifecycle and environmental impact of the design and also allows Green Prefab researchers to find new trends in building design, carry out extrapolation studies and offer advice on common challenges associated with environmental impact.
Molplex, a UK-based start-up firm, is utilizing cloud computing infrastructure of VENUS-C to perform molecular computations for drug innovation, which helps accelerate development in new medications that can save lives. In addition to saving computing and processing time, the cloud infrastructure platform offers scalability benefit. DFRC, a company based in Switzerland, is using VENUS-C-enabled resources for the PERSEUS project, which aims to improve the safety and security of Europe’s maritime borders by eliminating smuggling, crime and illegal immigration via enhanced real-time access to maritime and shipping data.
Cloud computing provides major opportunities for alliance between research-focused academia and SMEs. Green Prefab is collaborating with other VENUS-C project pilots to work on structural analysis with Spain-based Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and on energy efficiency with the Royal Danish Academy.
Source: http://cordis.europa.eu/