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The building sector is one of the largest contributors to the world’s total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Advancements in building energy technologies have played a critical role in enhancing the energy sustainability of the built environment. Extensive research and new techniques in energy and environmental systems for buildings have recently emerged to address the global challenges. This study reviews existing articles in the literature, mostly since 2000, to explore technological advancement in building energy and environmental systems that can be applied to smart homes and buildings. This review study focuses on an overview of the design and implementation of energy-related smart building technologies, including energy management systems, renewable energy applications, and current advanced smart technologies for optimal function and energy-efficient performance. To review the advancement in building energy-related technologies, a systematic review process is adopted based on available published reviews and research types of articles. Review-type articles are first assessed to explore the current literature on the relevant keywords and to capture major research scopes. Research-type papers are then examined to investigate associated keywords and work scopes, including objectives, focuses, limitations, and future needs. Throughout the comprehensive literature review, this study identifies various techniques of smart home/building applications that have provided detailed solutions or guidelines in different applications to enhance the quality of people’s daily activities and the sustainability of the built environmental system. This paper shows trends in human activities and technology advancements in digital solutions with energy management systems and practical designs. Understanding the overall energy flow between a building and its environmentally connected systems is also important for future buildings and community levels. This paper assists in understanding the pathway toward future smart homes/buildings and their technologies for researchers in related research fields.

Globally, solar energy has become a major contributor to the rapid adoption of renewable energy. Significant energy savings have resulted from the widespread utilization of solar energy in the industrial, residential, and commercial divisions. This review article comprises research conducted over the past 15 years (2008-2023), utilizing a comprehensive collection of 163 references. Significantly, a considerable focus is directed towards the period from 2020 to 2023, encompassing an extensive investigation into the latest developments in solar panel technology in civil engineering. The article examines the incorporation of solar panels into building designs and addresses installation-related structural considerations. In addition, the present review examines the applications of solar panels in terms of innovative infrastructure development applications of solar panels, such as photovoltaic parking lot canopies and photovoltaic noise barriers, which contribute to improved energy efficiency. It also emphasizes their role in water management systems, including water treatment plants, water pumping and irrigation systems, energy-efficient solar desalination technologies, and promoting sustainable water practices. In addition, this study examines how solar panels have been incorporated into urban planning, including smart cities and public parks, thereby transforming urban landscapes into greener alternatives. This study also examined the use of solar panels in building materials, such as façade systems and solar-powered building envelope solutions, demonstrating their versatility in the construction industry. This review explores the diverse applications of solar energy, which promotes sustainable practices in various industries. Owing to the ongoing research, solar energy holds great promise for a greener and cleaner future.

•PVT technology and its Integration with Building Energy Systems investigated.•Solutions for resolving limitations are proposed.•Parallel drawn between Solar Air Heater and Photovoltaic Thermal technologies. [Display omitted] Climate crisis mitigation roadmaps, policies and directives have increasingly declared that a key element for the facilitation of sustainable urban development is on-site decentralized renewable energy generation. A technology with enhanced capabilities, able of promoting the integration of renewable energy into buildings, for energy independent and resilient communities, is Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) systems. Ongoing research has potential yet displays a lack in unified methodology. This limits its influence on future decision-making in building and city planning levels. In this investigation, the often overlooked air-based PVT technology is put on the spotlight and their suitability for integration with energy systems of buildings is assessed. The aim of this study is to highlight vital performance and integration roadblocks in PVT research and offer suggestions for overcoming them. The methodology of reviewed literature is examined in detail with the goal of contributing to a unified approach for more impactful research.

In the European Union (EU), where architectural heritage is significant, enhancing the energy performance of historical buildings is of great interest. Constraints such as the lack of space, especially within the historical centers and architectural peculiarities, make the application of technologies for renewable energy production and storage a challenging issue. This study presents a prototype system consisting of using the renewable energy from a photovoltaic (PV) array to compress air for a later expansion to produce electricity when needed. The PV-integrated small-scale compressed air energy storage system is designed to address the architectural constraints. It is located in the unoccupied basement of the building. An energy analysis was carried out for assessing the performance of the proposed system. The novelty of this study is to introduce experimental data of a CAES (compressed air energy storage) prototype that is suitable for dwelling applications as well as integration accounting for architectural constraints. The simulation, which was carried out for an average summer day, shows that the compression phase absorbs 32% of the PV energy excess in a vessel of 1.7 m3, and the expansion phase covers 21.9% of the dwelling energy demand. The electrical efficiency of a daily cycle is equal to 11.6%. If air is compressed at 225 bar instead of 30 bar, 96.0% of PV energy excess is stored in a volume of 0.25 m3, with a production of 1.273 kWh, which is 26.0% of the demand.

This paper holds a critical review of current research activities dealing with smart architectural glazing worldwide. Hereafter, the main trends are analyzed and critically reported, with open issues, challenges, and opportunities, providing an accurate description of technological evolution of devices in time. This manuscript deals with some well-known, highly performing technologies, such as semitransparent photovoltaics and novel photoelectrochromic devices, the readiest, probably, to reach the final stage of development, to disclose the manifold advantages of multifunctional, smart glazing. The complex, overall effects of their building integration are also reported, especially regarding energy balance and indoor visual comfort in buildings.

This study addresses the thermal and energy performance assessment of a Building Integrated Photovoltaic Thermal (BIPVT) system installed on the façade of a test room in Solar XXI, a Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) located in Lisbon, Portugal. A numerical analysis using the dynamic simulation tool EnergyPlus was carried out for assessing the performance of the test room with the BIPVT integrated on its façade through a parametric analysis of 14 scenarios in two conditions: a) receiving direct solar gains on the glazing surface and b) avoiding direct solar gains on the glazing surface. Additionally, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the BIPVT system was performed using ANSYS Fluent. The findings of this work demonstrate that the BIPVT has a good potential to improve the sustainability of the building by reducing the nominal energy needs to achieve thermal comfort, reducing up to 48% the total energy needs for heating and cooling compared to the base case. The operation mode must be adjusted to the other strategies already implemented in the room (e.g., the presence of windows and blinds to control direct solar gains), and the automatic operation mode has proven to have a better performance in the scope of this work.

The building sector is responsible for a significant amount of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, the monitoring, control and optimization of energy consumption in buildings will play a critical role in the coming years in improving energy efficiency in the building sector and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, while there are a significant number of studies on how to make buildings smarter and manage energy through smart devices, there is a need for more research on integrating buildings with legacy equipment and systems. It is therefore vital to define mechanisms to improve the use of energy efficiency in existing buildings. This study proposes a new architecture (PHOENIX architecture) for integrating legacy building systems into scalable energy management systems with focus also on user comfort in the concept of interoperability layers. This interoperable and intelligent architecture relies on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to increase building efficiency, grid flexibility and occupant well-being. To validate the architecture and demonstrate the impact and replication potential of the proposed solution, five demonstration pilots have been utilized across Europe. As a result, by implementing the proposed architecture in the pilot sites, 30 apartments and four commercial buildings with more than 400 devices have been integrated into the architecture and have been communicating successfully. In addition, six Trials were performed in a commercial building and five key performance indicators (KPIs) were measured in order to evaluate the robust operation of the architecture. Work is still ongoing for the trials and the KPIs’ analysis after the implementation of PHOENIX architecture at the rest of the pilot sites.

Solar tracking systems enable increased efficiency of a photovoltaic system through a continuous adjustment of its position with respect to the sun, thus increasing the generation of electrical energy. The integration of photovoltaic solar tracking systems in buildings and houses enables the energy needs of users in a broader way to be covered. This integration is facilitated through the existence of technologies such as access to the Internet through Wi-Fi, which allows developing systems to be encompassed within the domain of the “Internet of Things” (IoT). In this study, a first-of-its-kind “open-loop” solar tracker was designed and developed, which executes the tracking algorithm in the Firebase web service and allows the exchange of data with said service through a NodeMCU development board, which has an integrated Wi-Fi module. After an experimental campaign in Aguascalientes, central Mexico, gains in terms of collected energy on average were measured at 29.9% in May compared to an optimally tilted fixed photovoltaic system. This study opens the possibility of integrating power generation systems into the IoT domain, which, among other things, allows for constant monitoring of the behavior of the system.

Climate change is becoming more important day after day. The main actor to decarbonize the economy is the building stock, especially in the energy used for Domestic Hot Water (DHW), heating and cooling. The use of renewable energy sources to cover space conditioning and DHW demands is growing every year. While solar thermal energy can cover building heating and DHW demands, there is no technology with such potential and development for space cooling. In this paper, a new concept of combining radiative cooling and solar thermal collection, the Radiative Collector and Emitter (RCE), through the idea of an adaptive cover, which uses different material properties for each functionality, is for the first time experimentally tested and proved. The RCE relies on an adaptive cover that uses different material properties for each functionality: high spectral transmittance in the solar radiation band and very low spectral transmittance in the infrared band during solar collection mode, and high spectral transmittance in the atmospheric window wavelength during radiative cooling mode. Experiments were performed during the summer period in Lleida (Dry Mediterranean Continental climate). The concept was proved, demonstrating the potential of the RCE to heat up water during daylight hours and to cool down water during the night. Daily/nightly average efficiencies up to 49% and 32% were achieved for solar collection and radiative cooling, respectively.

Biomass is widely acknowledged as a plentiful and easily accessible source of renewable energy. Unlike many other renewable sources, biomass offers a consistent and predictable power supply without significant concerns about energy and environmental impacts. When used as a fuel in polygeneration systems designed to produce multiple outputs such as electricity, heat, chemicals, and synthetic fuels, biomass greatly enhances overall system efficiency by minimizing energy losses. These systems gain further advantages when integrated in a decentralized manner with energy-intensive applications like buildings. This review article aims to shift the focus of readers from generic biomass-based systems to polygeneration systems tailored for specific applications, such as buildings. The overview will discuss various biomass resources, systematic approaches, technologies, successful case studies, potential benefits, and limitations of such systems integrated into real-life building applications. It also categorizes studies based on different conversion processes such as combustion, gasification, and anaerobic digestion, with combustion-based polygeneration systems being the most prevalent. The review also explores the use of standalone and hybrid biomass-based energy systems. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the analysis considers energy, exergy, economic, and environmental perspectives. Parameters such as the primary energy savings (PES), exergy efficiency, simple payback (SPB) period, and CO2 emission reductions are commonly used in system analyses. The review underscores how polygeneration systems integrated into the building sector can enhance efficiency, resilience, and environmental sustainability. This synthesis aims to address current gaps, particularly in the domain of polygeneration systems connected with buildings, offering essential insights for researchers and specialists in the field.