Associate Professor

Roel Loonen

RESEARCH PROFILE

Roel Loonen is an Assistant Professor at the Unit Building Physics and Services, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. His research and teaching focus on the development and application of modeling and simulation strategies to provide decision support for designing buildings that combine high indoor quality with low or no impact on the environment. Roel collaborates with SMEs in various R&D projects, aspiring to accelerate the process of bringing innovative building envelope technologies and renewable energy systems to the market. Many of his projects deal with the advancement of adaptive facades and building-integrated renewable energy technologies, for example through development, validation and application of new building performance simulation models.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Roel Loonen received a BSc and MSc (cum laude) in Building Services from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. In 2018, he received a PhD from the same university with a dissertation on ‘Approaches for computational performance optimization of innovative adaptive façade concepts’. Roel received the REHVA Young Scientist Award (2021), and the Best PhD supervisor award from the Department of the Built Environment, TU/e (2018). Roel is a board member of the Dutch-Flemish affiliate of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) and co-chair of the website committee of IBPSA World. He is a reviewer for 35 academic journals and has been a member of several scientific committees of international conferences.

How TU/e technology brings the endless power of the sun to your home (and car)

The potential of solar power is enormous: our planet intercepts some 173,000 terawatts of radiation from the sun at any time, 10,000 times more power than the planet’s population uses. Harnessing this almost endless power source has been the driving force of much research at the Eindhoven University of Technology. The research covers a broad terrain of expertise and interests, ranging from the elemental building blocks of solar cells and upscaling of technology to industrial production, to enhancing the aesthetics of solar panels or application in solar-powered cars. And with success: it is estimated that almost one third of all solar cells worldwide contain technology pioneered by our researchers. We take you step by step through the whole chain: from fundamental research in the lab to the application in everyday life.