Sustainable Solar Energy: Thermal and Photovoltaic Uses
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 13 September 2026 | Viewed by 1000
Editors
Interests: atmospheric physics (mainly related to ozone and aerosols); solar radiation (mainly related to global and UV components and to solar energy use); climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: energy and studies of sustainability; uses of new technologies in the teaching of science; nuclear astrophysics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Environmental sustainability applied to human activities is mainly based on the efficient use of renewable natural resources (air, water, soil, flora, and fauna) and reduction in waste and contaminants to a minimum—if possible, to zero by artificial resource replacement (such as the exchange of plastic for wood)—given that sustainable energy sources are fundamental to maintaining and developing human life on Earth.
In this Special Issue, we propose extending the usual analysis of solar energy used for heat and electricity production to include sustainability practices. This means that, other than the fact that solar energy is renewable—a basic criterion to be sustainable—special care must be taken in the analysis of greenhouse gases emissions during the production and/or use of this energy source due to their significant effects on climate change. Moreover, the energy efficiency of solar equipment systems or systems as a whole (solar equipment in addition to where solar energy is employed, for instance, such as houses, industries, farms, etc.) must be considered.
Possible topics could include the following:
- Sustainable thermal solar energy use;
- Sustainable photovoltaic solar energy use;
- Energy efficiency included in solar equipment and/or in entire systems;
- Hybrid renewable energy systems, including those for solar energy;
- Evaluations of greenhouse gas emissions related to the abovementioned topics.
Prof. Dr. Rubén D. Piacentini
Prof. Dr. Salvador Gil
Prof. Dr. Víctor José Passamai
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sustainability
- solar
- thermal
- photovoltaic
- efficiency
- hybrid
- renewable
- greenhouse gases
- climate change
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