Clean-energy technologies have been welcomed due to environmental concerns and high fossil-fuel costs. Today, photovoltaic (PV) cells are among the most well-known technologies that are used today to integrate with buildings. Particularly, these cells have attracted the attention of researchers and designers, combined with the windows and facades of buildings, as solar cells that are in a typical window or facade of a building can reduce the demand for urban electricity by generating clean electricity. Among the four generations that have been industrialized in the development of solar cells, the third generation, including dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and perovskite, is used more in combination with the facades and windows of buildings. Due to the characteristics of these cells, the study of transparency, colour effect and their impact on energy consumption is considerable. Up to now, case studies have highlighted the features mentioned in the building combination. Therefore, this paper aims to provide constructive information about the practical and functional features as well as the limitations of this technology, which can be used as a reference for researchers and designers.

PurposeThe earth-sheltered building is an adaptive strategy reducing energy consumption as well as increasing thermal comfort of the residents. Although this idea historically implemented in the city of Yazd, Iran, its effects on thermal comfort have not been studied thoroughly. This paper aims to discuss and analyze energy performance, in terms of parameters such as orientation, underground depth, nocturnal ventilation and its subsequent effects on thermal comfort in earth-sheltered buildings in Yazd.Design/methodology/approachUsing EnergyPlus software, the obtained numeric data are precisely modeled, simulated and analyzed.FindingsResults show that there is a direct relationship between depth of construction and energy consumption savings. The more construction depth of earth-sheltered buildings, the more percentage of energy consumption savings, that is of a higher rate in comparison to the aboveground ones. However, in south orientation, energy saving significantly reduces from depth of 2 m downwards and the annual indoor temperature fluctuation decreases by 50%. This subsequently yields to experiencing indoor thermal comfort for a significant number of days throughout the year. Considering the effects of orientation factor, the south orientation regardless of the depth provides the most desired outcome regarding energy savings.Originality/valueSimulating the model generalized to the sunken courtyard can approve that the results of this research can be applied to the other models.

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