Earth receives from the sun %432 EJ in 1 h, out of which 18 EJ per hour are reflected off from the surface and lost into space. [1] Despite the fact that this amount of energy is available to be converted to usable energy by photovoltaics (PVs), nowadays, this power technology is just converting about 4 EJ per year. [2] Converting all this incident energy would suppose nearly 158 000 EJ per year, which greatly exceeds the 585 EJ of primary energy (PE) consumed in 2017. [3] This fact makes solar power technologies converting directly incident sunlight into usable electrical energy, hence, PVs, powerful candidates to ease the environmental issues derived from the present system of energy production. However, the potential of PV to provide electricity to our societies in a postcarbon energy system is limited by a Shockley-Queisser limit of about 33%, [4] together with land and sources availability.There are several PV technologies, each with a different degree of maturity. Crystalline Si PVs represent the most deployed type with 95% of the market share, 75% in monocrystalline silicon (Mono-Si), with a growing share, and 20% for multicrystalline silicon (Multi-Si), with a continuously declining share. [5] Mono-Si and Multi-Si present moderately high operating efficiencies between 20% and 22%, a deep industrial implementation constructed in parallel with the development of the electronic industry and low toxicity. [6] Another key advantage of this technology in a large production scenario is that it can be entirely produced with relatively abundant materials. [7] The only argument against crystalline Si as the ideal PV material is the chemistries required for purification, reduction, and crystallization of pure silicon from sand, which are highly energy

The presence of solar energy systems has increased significantly in recent years both in rural areasin the form of solar farms-, and in urban areas as part of building installations. This transformation of the landscape, in spite of the good social acceptance of solar energy, causes an aesthetic impact whose interest has been growing in literature in recent years. This study aimed to review prior literature in order to establish the objective factors, aesthetic perception and methods that are most relevant when assessing the aesthetic impact. As a result of the lack of consensus, a new qualitative theoretical framework is proposed that can serve as a basis for future research in the field of the integration of solar energy and its aesthetic impact. The framework comprises three sub-impacts: land use, solar system energy and glare. The results are discussed for future research and innovation in building photovoltaic integration and for SES site location and its environmental impact assessments. Number of words excluding table/figure captions and references: 9686.

Architecture has become an important field of research on the mitigation of climate change. The literature contains a number of environmental studies of buildings conducted using the Life Cycle Analysis method, while others have analysed improvements in the energy efficiency. Important advances have also been made by integrating renewable energies within the building envelope. In architecture, however, it must be remembered that the formal aspect is as important as the functional one, and therefore rating the aesthetic perception of these new technologies is very interesting for future innovation projects and their integration within society. This work focuses on the aesthetic impact resulting from the use of photovoltaic systems that can be integrated within the building envelope or installed upon its surface. A survey was conducted using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) to evaluate the feelings that such systems arouse, through two classic dimensions of affect: hedonic valence (pleasant-unpleasant) and arousal (activation or emotional intensity). Overall, results (error range of 5%) show that all the prototypes were rated positively and with a medium level of arousal, but those that use integrated systems obtained higher values in both dimensions of affect. Respondents' age was observed as an influential factor in these subjective evaluations.

Green public procurement (GPP) aims to integrate environmental criteria into public tender as instrument to develop and encourage production and consumption of sustainable products and services. Inclusion of award criteria in GPP is a key factor of its success. To this aim, a new method for assessing environmental award criteria in GPP processes is introduced in this study, providing easy and effective communication of the environmental benefits of the products and services purchased. The method is intended for its use by public authorities and companies. The main novelty of the method lies in its ability to evaluate the achievement of each award criterion during the GPP process using a simplified life cycle assessment methodology and a further simplification of the environmental indicators in one score using TOPSIS. This method is applied to public procurement of urban furniture as a case study. Highlights  A method based on LCA and TOPSIS is presented to evaluate award criteria.  Environmental benefits are easily and effectively communicated.  The method is applied to the green public procurement of urban furniture.  Compulsory and award criteria for urban furniture are defined.

Social acceptance and aesthetic impact of renewable energy (RE) in cities are topics scarcely considered in the literature even though they have attracted growing interest. Innovative European-funded projects, therefore, should start to consider these concepts. This paper provides an innovative review of European projects with the aim of identifying those with actual implementation of RE and energy storage systems in urban environments and their concern for aesthetic impact. The search considered the five most relevant programs related to RE and climate change mitigation, including almost 14,000 projects. Furthermore, a survey and some interviews allowed to collect data about the selected projects. 0.1% of reviewed projects aimed at the actual installation of RE on an urban scale. However, there is a recent growing trend. The most used RE was solar, especially photovoltaic, while the most common system for energy storage was lithium batteries. We can affirm that these European projects do not currently show any particular concern for the aesthetic impact they cause in cities, nor for the social perception assessment. It would be advisable to consider technologies as products and basic components of work and daily life, and not only as a means of intervention to promote RE.