Utilization of Solar Energy in Smart Buildings

Dear Colleagues,

According to the United Nations’ 2019 report, energy consumption in the building and construction industry accounts for more than 40% of total global energy consumption. With the improvement of the global economy, the demand for a comfortable indoor thermal environment has increased. To achieve the objective of energy saving in buildings and indoor comfort improvement simultaneously, effective and reliable applications of renewable energy in buildings should be reasonably promoted.

Solar energy is a widely used renewable energy source to achieve carbon neutrality. Solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies have been rapidly promoted in recent years due to their reduced investment and improved performance. In the future, photovoltaic power generation will account for a large proportion of total power generation. In addition to renewable energy, smart building is another effective solution to address global warming. Smart buildings can intelligently predict, control, diagnose and adjust their energy systems to achieve high reliability and energy efficiency. Intelligently utilizing solar energy and other renewable energies in buildings can significantly contribute to energy conservation and CO₂ emission reduction towards a sustainable society.

This Special Issue focuses on recent research on the Utilization of Solar Energy in Smart Buildings for Sustainability and aims to provide an international forum for the dissemination of the latest original advances in the related fields.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Solar photovoltaic integration in buildings (BIPV);
• Hybrid solar–wind power technologies;
• Advanced solar energy technologies;
• Advanced energy storage technologies;
• Advanced renewable energy systems (solar heating and cooling, PV, PV/T, ground-source heat pump technologies);
• Solar energy policy in buildings;
• Smart control in low-energy and zero-energy buildings;
• Dynamic simulation of building energy systems;
• Building energy load prediction;
• Building energy system assessment and diagnosis;
• Big data analytics for smart energy systems and smart buildings;
• Smart building management;
• Green construction in smart buildings.

Dr. Tian You
Dr. Zongwei Han
Dr. Yang Zhao
Guest Editors

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