International Journal of Photoenergy
Volume 2019 (2019), Article ID 1709375, 2 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/1709375

Editorial

Advanced Solar Technologies in Buildings

Mattia De Rosa,¹ Paolo Conti,² Yasser Mahmoudi,³ and Vincenzo Bianco⁴

¹UCD Energy Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
²Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Constructions Engineering (DESTEC), University of Pisa, Italy
³School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT95AG, UK
⁴DIME/TEC, Division of Thermal Energy and Environmental Conditioning, University of Genoa, Genoa 16145, Italy

Correspondence should be addressed to Mattia De Rosa; mattia.derosa@ucd.ie

Received 17 June 2019; Accepted 19 June 2019; Published 4 July 2019

Copyright © 2019 Mattia De Rosa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The global growth of energy demand is putting pressure on establishing regulatory frameworks aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of our societies, thus mitigating the climate change. For instance, one of the main targets of the European Union’s energy policies is the reduction of greenhouse emissions by 80-95% by 2050 [1]. Such decarbonisation process, as envisioned by most researchers and policy makers, requires policies promoting investments to support new low-carbon solutions, efficiency measures, and people behavioural changes.

Renewable energies are recognised as one of the most important pillars for achieving a more sustainable society. A recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) indicates that the share of renewable energy in the power sector would increase from 25% in 2017 to 85% by 2050, mostly through growth in wind and solar power generation [2]. Therefore, greater efforts should be made to achieve a higher and widespread penetration of renewables in all economic sectors.

In this context, solar energy has been the subject of intense research and development efforts thanks to its promising and unmatched resource potential, which led to a large diffusion as residential, commercial, and industrial solar appliances over the last few decades. Among others, buildings represent an important sector for solar energy technologies, since they are responsible for about 39% of the total primary energy consumption [3]. Therefore, the integration of solar technologies in buildings, such as advanced solar thermal collectors, photovoltaic (PV) and hybrid PV systems, the use of photoactive materials, solar cooling and passive solar systems, and energy storage, may lead to significant primary energy savings and carbon emission reduction.

Further research opportunities are still growing, looking at novel building applications where advanced material devices, integrated system configurations, design and management strategies, novel modelling, and assessment techniques are adopted. On the other hand, making solar energy cost-effective and market ready technologies requires the adoption of innovative modelling approaches and quantitative assessment procedures capable of (i) reducing the environmental and cost impacts of appliance production, installation, and disposal processes (i.e., life-cycle analysis-LCA), (ii) allowing the integration with existing facilities and infrastructures, and (iii) providing technical and economic optimisation of design and management, including control algorithms and smart grid integration.

This special issue is an attempt to collect articles on advanced solar technologies for building applications. It includes numerical and experimental works on photovoltaic systems and their integration at building level, novel solar concentrators, hybrid thermal-power systems, and energy storage coupled with thermal solar systems.

Conflicts of Interest

The editors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this special issue.

Mattia De Rosa
Paolo Conti
Yasser Mahmoudi
Vincenzo Bianco

References

European Commission, “2050 Energy Strategy. Online Report,” June 2019, https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-623strategy-and-energy-union/2050-energy-strategy.

International Energy Agency, “Renewable 2018 – market analysis and forecast from 2018 to 2023. Report,” 2018.

International Energy Agency, “Transition to sustainable buildings. Strategies and opportunities to 2050,” Tech. Rep., Technical Report, International Energy Agency, 2013.