Buildings consume a third of the world's energy and are responsible for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing carbon emissions and using renewable, clean energy in buildings is key to achieving the goals of carbon neutrality for society as a whole.
Integrating solar panels into buildings is one of the most promising ways to reduce carbon emissions and contribute to sustainability.
Facades should be used to integrate solar panels
Historically, most solar panels (photovoltaics) for buildings have been installed on roofs, but roof space can be limited. Faceplates offer much more surface area and can be used for this application.
Previous studies have shown that facade-integrated photovoltaics (FIPV) is an important solution for solar energy harvesting. In Norway, where the sun is low, facades have the unique potential to implement solar panels.
beauty tests
However, the aesthetic appearance of solar panels can be challenging. Black or dark blue colors are not suitable for building facades made of ordinary solar panels, and architects are strictly against using boring colors in their designs.
Norway is also full of colorful houses, many of which are hundreds of years old. The colors of traditional buildings attract tourists and give local residents a good "sense of place".
It's hard to imagine architects or homeowners using solar panels when all the houses are black or dark.
Rasterization method design
To solve this problem, a team from NTNU's Center for Light and Color (Professors Changjing Xiang and Barbara Szybinska Matusiak) proposed a new method to generate energy with good yield by fitting facades with colorful solar panels.
As with mosaic paintings or "neo-impression" artworks, the pixelation method can combine solar panels of different colors in a series of smooth tones on one side. Therefore, it is possible to create acceptable energy productivity for a building by combining light solar panels (generally low energy productivity) and dark solar panels (generally good energy productivity) in the same or similar tones. .
Research has shown that solar panels with pixel colors can save 85% to 93% energy compared to black solar panels.
In particular, the halftoning process can take a local color map, that is, a set of colors common to the environment.
For example, the image below shows the typical colors of the city of Trondheim. Architects can ask companies to produce the exact color of solar panels to match the facades of existing buildings. In this way, the use of pixelation can respect traditional patterns and contribute to the colorful "place-sense" of valuable urban areas.
Satisfactory aesthetic performance
The aesthetic performance of the proposed pixelation projects was tested in an international survey of over 300 participants from diverse backgrounds in Norway, Denmark, China, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, the United States, Japan and Brazil.
Research shows that designs with pixel art are preferred by most people and look nicer than standard designs without pixel art. In addition, most participants felt that projects using local colors were appropriate in an urban environment.
Good energy efficiency
Another case study was conducted in Trondheim, where the pixelation method was used in small apartments in three-story apartment buildings.
A colored solar facade is 80% more energy efficient than a black solar facade A colorful renovation project was created for a high-end apartment. The electricity generated by brightly colored solar panels can account for 26 percent of these homes' total household energy use.
This research offers new solutions and design references for the application of photovoltaic color in large urban environments. The researchers see facade-integrated photovoltaics as a valuable approach to combating climate change and achieving a zero-emission society.
More information: Integrated Photovoltaics as a Tailored Architectural Design Method for Colored Facades: An Example of the Nordic Built EnvironmentChangying Xiang et al., Façade Integrated Color Photovoltaics Approach, in the Context of the City of Trondheim, Norway Architecture Proposal, Solar Energy (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2021.06.079
Citation: Pixelizing Solar Panels to Beautify Building Facades (September 20, 2022) Retrieved September 21, 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-pixeization-solar-panels-beautify-facades.html.
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