This book looks at the success and continuing potential of photovoltaic (PV) technology in combating climate change by harnessing solar energy through building-integrated (BIPV) and building-applied photovoltaics (BAPV). With PV global capacity soaring from 940 GW in 2021 to 1100 GW in 2022 and projected to reach 1456 GW by the end of 2023, the world is witnessing an unprecedented shift towards renewable energy solutions. Today, no single country exists without some form of PV installation, driven by reduced costs and abundant free sunshine. The book’s chapters delve into the advancements in PV technology, exploring its integration as an essential building material by examining 14 countries and regions – Brazil, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Argentina, Iran, Germany, Malaysia, Oman, Bahrain, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt – and providing a comprehensive overview of their successful adoption of PV for electricity generation. Whether you’re an architect, builder, engineer, or climate advocate, this vital resource offers insights, international case studies, and a path to a greener future.

Materials for Architects and Builders provides a clear and concise introduction to the broad range of materials used within the construction industry and covers the essential details of their manufacture, key physical properties, specification and uses. Understanding the basics of materials is a crucial part of undergraduate and diploma construction or architecture-related courses, and this established textbook helps the reader to do just that with the help of colour photographs and clear diagrams throughout. This new edition has been completely revised and updated to include the latest developments in materials research, new images, appropriate technologies and relevant legislation. The ecological effects of building construction and lifetime use remain an important focus, and this new edition includes a wide range of energy saving building components.

There is a growing concern about fluctuating energy prices, energy security, and the impact of climate change. Buildings are amongst the primary energy consumers in the world. This fact underlines the importance of targeting building energy use as a key to decreasing any nation's energy consumption. According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Research Strategic Plan 2010-2015, even limited deployment of Net-Zero-Energy buildings within this timeframe will have a beneficial effect by reducing the pressure for additional energy and power supply and the reduction of GHG emissions. The building sector is poised to significantly reduce energy use by incorporating energy-efficient strategies into the design, construction, and operation of new buildings and retrofits to improve the efficiency of existing buildings.

This Special Issue covers a wide range of areas—including building orientation, service life, use of photocatalytically active structures and PV facades, implications of transportation system, building types (i.e., high rise, multilevel, commercial, residential), life cycle assessment, and structural engineering—that need to be considered in the environmental impact assessment of buildings, and the chapters include case studies across the globe. Consideration of these strategies would help reduce energy and material consumption, environmental emissions, and waste generation associated with all phases of a building’s life cycle. Chapter 1 demonstrates that green star concrete exhibits the same structural properties as conventional concrete in Australia. Chapter 2 showed that the use of TiO2 as a photocatalyst on the surface of construction materials with a suitable stable binding agent, such as aggregates, would enable building walls to absorb NOx from air. This study found that TiO2 has the potential to reduce ambient concentrations of NOx from areas where this pollutant becomes concentrated under solar irradiation. Chapter 3 presents the life cycle assessment of architecturally integrated glass–glass photovoltaics in building facades to find the appropriate material composition for a multicolored PV façade offering improved environmental performance. Chapter 4 shows that urban office buildings lacking appropriate orientation experienced indoor overheating. Chapter 5 details four modeling approaches that were implemented to estimate buildings’ response towards load shedding. Chapter 6 covers the life cycle GHG emissions of high-rise residential housing block to discover opportunities for environmental improvement. Chapter 7 discusses an LCA framework that took into account variation in the service life of buildings associated with the use of different types of materials. Chapter 8 presents a useful data mining algorithm to conduct life cycle asset management in residential developments built on transport systems.

This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report (IPCC-SRREN) assesses the potential role of renewable energy in the mitigation of climate change. It covers the six most important renewable energy sources – bioenergy, solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean and wind energy – as well as their integration into present and future energy systems. It considers the environmental and social consequences associated with the deployment of these technologies and presents strategies to overcome technical as well as non-technical obstacles to their application and diffusion. SRREN brings a broad spectrum of technology-specific experts together with scientists studying energy systems as a whole. Prepared following strict IPCC procedures, it presents an impartial assessment of the current state of knowledge: it is policy relevant but not policy prescriptive. SRREN is an invaluable assessment of the potential role of renewable energy for the mitigation of climate change for policymakers, the private sector and academic researchers.

Photovoltaics have started replacing fossil fuels as major energy generation roadmaps, targeting higher efficiencies and/or lower costs are aggressively pursued to bring PV to cost parity with grid electricity. Third generation PV technologies may overcome the fundamental limitations of photon to electron conversion in single-junction devices and, thus, improve both their efficiency and cost. This book presents notable advances in these technologies, namely organic cells and nanostructures, dye-sensitized cells and multijunction III/V cells. The following topics are addressed: Solar spectrum conversion for photovoltaics using nanoparticles; multiscale modeling of heterojunctions in organic PV; technologies and manufacturing of OPV; life cycle assessment of OPV; new materials and architectures for dye-sensitized solar cells; advances of concentrating PV; modeling doped III/V alloys; polymeric films for lowering the cost of PV, and field performance factors. A panel of acclaimed PV professionals contributed these topics, compiling the state of knowledge for advancing this new generation of PV.

This unique book brings together high-quality research contributions on ecological aspects of urbanization, water quality concerns in an urban environment, and climate change issues with a strong Indian focus under one umbrella. It includes several case studies that discuss urban water management, particularly highlighting the quality aspects. Urbanization is an ecological disturbance that the modern world accepts as essential in the absence of a better alternative that could provide an equal level of comfort. The prohibitive costs of eco-friendly production technologies are forcing the developing world to generate industrial waste that is detrimental to the environment. At the same time, the availability of adequate fresh water is another challenge for our climate-change impacted world. The scientific community is, therefore, searching for ways towards ecologically sustainable urban development. Discussing all these issues, this book offers a useful guide for academicians, researchers, practicing engineers, and managers dealing with diverse water-related problems in urban areas.

This latest Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC will again form the standard reference for all those concerned with climate change and its consequences.

This book presents the select proceedings of the International Conference on Civil Engineering Trends and Challenges for Sustainability (CTCS 2021). It discusses emerging and latest research and advances in sustainability in different areas of civil engineering, providing solutions to sustainable development. Various topics covered include sustainable construction technology & building materials; structural engineering, transportation and traffic engineering, geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering, water resources engineering, remote sensing and GIS applications. This book will be of potential interest to researchers and professionals working in sustainable civil engineering and related fields.

Significantly updated in reference to the latest construction standards and evolving building types Many chapters revised including housing, transport, offices, libraries and hotels New chapter on flood-aware design Sustainable design integrated into chapters throughout Over 100,000 copies sold to successive generations of architects and designers - this book belongs in every design studio and architecture school library The Metric Handbook is the major handbook of planning and design information for architects and architecture students. Covering basic design data for all the major building types, it is the ideal starting point for any project. For each building type, the book gives the basic design requirements and all the principal dimensional data, and succinct guidance on how to use the information and what regulations the designer needs to be aware of. As well as building types, the Metric Handbook deals with broader aspects of design such as materials, acoustics and lighting, and general design data on human dimensions and space requirements. The Metric Handbook provides an invaluable resource for solving everyday design and planning problems.