Application of Renewable Energy Sources in Buildings

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 May 2018) | Viewed by 23845

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, School of the Built Environment, Faculty of Technology, Design & Environment, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
Interests: BIM; building rehabilitation; sustainable construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
African Technology Policy Studies Network, 8th Floor, The Chancery Building. Valley Road, P.O.Box 10081-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Interests: green economy; project management; sustainable cities; sustainable development; urban water

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Guest Editor
FOKABS INC., Cité des 7 Collines Tsinga, P.O. Box 14097, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Interests: greenhouse gas mitigation; renewable energy; low carbon development; monitoring and evaluation; sustainable cities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Green growth has been hailed as one of the main strategies to alleviate poverty, improve environmental performance, mitigate climate change impacts, and address other emerging developmental challenges facing world. In spite of the supports from international organisations to drive the adoption of renewable energy—a major green growth strategy, its vast potential is yet to be realised in many countries. About 2.9 billion people in the developing world still use polluting fuels like wood, coal and charcoal to cook and heat their homes. Recently, global CO2 emissions appear to be going up strongly, after a three-year stable period with significant share attributed to human activities from developed and emerging economies. To address these challenges, the uptake of renewable energy in buildings needs to be accelerated. This uptake must be inclusive, taking into account gender balance and the interests of other vulnerable groups. However, studies about how the uptake renewable energy can be accelerated in a more efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient manner are scarce, with the result that significant questions need to posed.

Some examples are: a) what are the existing renewable energy technologies common in the markets? b) which are the policies and standards for regulating the integration of renewable energy technologies into buildings? c) how effective are the existing renewable energy policies and standards? d) in addition to renewable energy technologies, how can existing indigenous knowledge and innovations be exploited in optimising the harnessing of energy for buildings? e) what are the existing individual as well as institutional capacities required for the deployment of renewable energy technologies in buildings? f) how can gender issues be addressed in the renewable energy industry?

The aim of this Special Issue is to seek an in-depth understanding of the applications of renewable energy sources in buildings. Specifically, solicited studies about aspects of renewable energy sources in buildings include, but are not limited to:

  • Renewable energy technologies;
  • Green jobs creation from renewable energy;
  • Renewable energy standards and policies;
  • Capacity gaps assessment;
  • Gender mainstreaming in renewable energy;
  • Renewable energy indigenous knowledge/innovations;
  • Renewable energy decision support systems;
  • Renewable energy open data.

Dr. Henry Abanda
Dr. Ernest Acheampong
Mr. Kevin Enongene
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 8218 KiB  
Article
Spatio-Temporal Visualisation of Reflections from Building Integrated Photovoltaics
by Roland Schregle, Christian Renken and Stephen Wittkopf
Buildings 2018, 8(8), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings8080101 - 3 Aug 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 9140
Abstract
With the increasing adoption of building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), concerns arise about potential glare. While recommended criteria to assess glare exist, it is challenging to apply these in the spatial and temporal domains and communicate the complex data to planning authorities and clients. [...] Read more.
With the increasing adoption of building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), concerns arise about potential glare. While recommended criteria to assess glare exist, it is challenging to apply these in the spatial and temporal domains and communicate the complex data to planning authorities and clients. This paper presents a new computational workflow using annual daylight simulation, material modelling using bi-directional scattering distribution functions (BSDFs) and image-based postprocessing to obtain 3-dimensional renderings of cumulative annual irradiance and glare duration on the built environment. The annual daylight simulation considers relevant sun positions in high temporal resolution (15-min timesteps) and measured BSDFs to model different PV materials. The postprocessing includes a relative irradiance visualisation comparing the impact of a proposed PV proportional to a reference material. It also includes a new spatio-temporal workflow to assess the glare duration based on recommended thresholds. This workflow is demonstrated with a case study of a proposed PV roof for a church, assessing the glare potential of two different PV materials. The visualisations indicate glare durations well below the thresholds with satinated PVs, and in noncritical zones outside observer positions with standard PVs. Thus the proposed PV roof does not cause any disturbing glare. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Renewable Energy Sources in Buildings)
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12 pages, 2761 KiB  
Article
Energy and Economic Performance of Solar Cooling Systems in the Hot-Summer and Cold-Winter Zone
by Li Huang and Rongyue Zheng
Buildings 2018, 8(3), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings8030037 - 2 Mar 2018
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 6392
Abstract
Building energy consumption has distinctly increased in the hot-summer and cold-winter zone in China. Solar cooling technology has been developed to reduce the increasing electricity consumption for air conditioning and to shift the peak load during hot summer days. This paper presents a [...] Read more.
Building energy consumption has distinctly increased in the hot-summer and cold-winter zone in China. Solar cooling technology has been developed to reduce the increasing electricity consumption for air conditioning and to shift the peak load during hot summer days. This paper presents a performance simulation and economic analysis for both photovoltaic (PV) and thermal solar cooling systems compared to a reference system, which is composed of two electric heat pumps. The results show that 30.7% and 30.2% of primary energy can be saved by using the PV and the thermal system, respectively. The payback time is 6–7 years for the PV system, but more than 20 years for the thermal system based on current conditions in China. Therefore, the PV system is more suitable for practical application in the hot-summer and cold-winter zone. The thermal system could be an alternative when middle- and high-temperature solar thermal collector technology has been further developed, as well as following mass production of small- and middle-sized chillers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Renewable Energy Sources in Buildings)
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14 pages, 650 KiB  
Review
Review of Renewable Energy Technologies in Zambian Households: Capacities and Barriers Affecting Successful Deployment
by Priscilla Kachapulula-Mudenda, Lilias Makashini, Albert Malama and Henry Abanda
Buildings 2018, 8(6), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings8060077 - 30 May 2018
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 7005
Abstract
Modern renewable energy has been hailed as one of the prerequisites for fostering green growth and the achievement of sustainable development. Despite efforts to promote the use of renewable energy in households, its adoption has remained fairly low, hence the need for an [...] Read more.
Modern renewable energy has been hailed as one of the prerequisites for fostering green growth and the achievement of sustainable development. Despite efforts to promote the use of renewable energy in households, its adoption has remained fairly low, hence the need for an inquiry into household capabilities needed for the acquisition and adoption of renewable energy technologies. This paper reviews the requisite capacities of households for the adoption of renewable energy services and expounds on some of the barriers hampering renewable energy among households. It takes a desk research approach to analyse the capacities which should be possessed by Zambian households and possible barriers constraining the widespread deployment of renewable energy technologies. The findings reveal that there is a need for a broader, multidimensional understanding of access to renewable energy in order for deployment to be effective. Barriers to the successful adoption of clean energy technologies include underserved populations, policy inadequacies; an underexploited renewable energy sector and heavy reliance on a service-challenged hydro-power utility. Since most of the aforementioned challenges are institutional in nature, the paper concludes with a recommendation of a baseline assessment to understand knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and drivers for renewable energy technology adoption among households. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Renewable Energy Sources in Buildings)
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