The annual forum on building' energy consumption kicked off in Rome Tuesday focusing on exploring high-tech possibilities for buildings to reduce energy consumption and generate power.

The sixth Energy Forum on Solar Building Skins attracted more than 200 participants from about 30 countries with a total of 27 presentations on subjects including "Intelligent and Adaptive Building Skins," "Cost Aspects of Integrating Photovoltaics into Facades" and "Lessons Learned from BIPV (or Building-Integrated Photovoltaics) Projects."

Some speakers are presenting their projects and main research results in the form of "visual presentation," and related discussions are also held at the forum.

The aim of the event is to provide a platform for scientists, architects, engineers, constructors, energy planners and manufacturers to exchange views on photovoltaic equipment, Andreas Karweger, organizer of the Energy Forum, told Xinhua.

"We would like to bring these people together to talk about how we can reduce energy consumption and how to integrate new technologies into facades and roofs, at the same time to increase comfort and well-being for the people in the house," Karweger said.

He recalled that when it was first launched in 2006, the energy forum was still a regional conference with the majority of participants from German-speaking areas. But since English became its official language in 2008, the forum has become more and more international, he said.

This year, Asian professors and scientists are attending for the first time, making the forum more "global," Karweger said.

Yu Zhuang, director of the Intelligence Building Institute of China's Huazhong University of Science and Technology, gave a presentation entitled "Performance of an Active Dynamic Air Envelope," saying the forum was professional and high-end, as it was focused on the development direction of building envelopes, which played a fundamental role in the energy consumption of buildings.

"Lots of ideas were generated during the forum, now we must see if these ideas can really contribute to cut energy consumption and improve the climate adaptability of buildings," Yu said.

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