Residential buildings integrated with SPVP and RCL towards energy saving

The façade spaces of the high-rise residential buildings have a plenty of solar energy gain. In this work, a sun-tracking photovoltaic (SPV) system towards the maximum power generation was proposed, to take full advantage of solar energy in the vertical spaces of residential buildings. Based on our previous research results, the sun-tracking photovoltaic panels (SPVP) has a capacity of providing a non-glare shading for the building's interior. However, a window system with the functions of radiative cooling, power generation and non-glare shading has been remained as a research gap in the filed of building energy saving. In this work, an SPVP&RCL (radiative cooling louver) window system was proposed and installed in front of glazing, providing four functionalities for the residential buildings. The four passive capacities are the PV power generation, non-glare shading, radiative cooling and increasing thermal insulation. According to seasonal and day-night changes, four types of operation modes were designed for the SPVP&RCL window system. Since the dimensions of the SPV panel could be changed via type selection, the application of the proposed window system was not bounded by the sizes of windows. Regarding the total annual energy requirement, a difference of 1612 kW h was realized between the baseline case and the novel case, contributing to an energy saving rate of 26.9 %. Due to the building sector as the largest energy consumer, this study aims at contributing to the sustainable development goals of China's “Carbon neutral and carbon peaking” strategy, by improving the energy efficiencies of residential buildings.