2011 The 6th International Forum on Strategic Technology

Research On Solar Energy Technologies

F or The Ecological Architecture
Wu Zhao

YanMa

College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering

College of Forestry

Shandong Agricultural University

Shandong Agricultural University

Tai'an, Shandong, China

Tai'an, Shandong, China

Wuzi5233@163.com

yanma@163.com

London, Hamburg (the city with the better solar energy).

Abstract- The using of solar energy is very vital for ecological

architecture. At present, the rich solar energy in China has not

[2,3]So we can see that the use of solar energy in buildings has

been

large potential in our country.

brought

investigation

into

fully

indicates

application

that

the

in

application

most
of

cities.
solar

The

energy

technology in construction is a very efficient method, and we can

FIVE REGIONS OF SOLAR ENERGY IN CHINA

TABLE l.

make full use of solar energy technology by initiative means and

passive means.

Sunlight
hours per
year

Type

Keywords-ecological architecture; solar energy; technology

With the improvement of living standard, people have

First
regions

higher requirements for the energy consumption; the base

number becomes increasingly big. But the world's conventional

3200-3300

6680-8400

3000-3200

5850-6680

regions
Third

accordance with the current development speed. In the past

regions

social

development,

productivity

development,

2200-3000

Gansu,

Shanxi,

Ningxia,

Gansu, South-east Tibet,

5000-5850

south-east

Shanxi,

Jilin,

Liaoning, Yunnan, etc.

Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi,

Forth

1400-2200

regions

building energy consumption dramatically. At present, the

Ningxia,

Xinjiang, ,Qinghai, etc.

Shandong, Henan, Hebei,

energy resources only can be used for 200-300 years in

population growth and the higher living standards raise the

North

etc.

exhausted. According to the statistics, the world's conventional

century,

Mostly regions

North

Second

energy resources (such as oil, coal, natural gas, etc.) are nearly

Radiation per
year (ml/m2)

world's reserves of the conventional energy sources are rapidly

Fifth

declining. Energy crisis has become a big problem of the world.

regions

4200-5000

Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian,

etc.

1000-1400

3350-4200

Sichuan, Guizhou

Meanwhile, the sustainable development of society requires

people to balance the development of energy and the protection

TABLE II.

SOLAR ENERGY RADIATIONS IN PART CITIES

of environment. Therefore, since the oil crisis in the Middle

East in 1970s, energy conservation and the development of
clean, renewable and new energy have attracted more attention

Place name

in the developed countries. [1] As an inexhaustible treasury of

Radiation per
year
(ml/m2)

Place name

Radiation per
year(ml/m2)

the clean energy, the solar energy obtains more concern in

Lisbon

6900

Paris

4000

some European countries. After years of research and practice,

Athens

58\0

Vienna

3890

the application of solar technology in the construction has

Washington

5220

London

3600

become mature in these countries; the application of solar

Tokyo

4220

energy

saves

lot

of

conventional

energy

and

reduces

environmental pollution for these countries.

II.
I.

THE COMBINUNG WAYS OF SOLAR ENERGY

AND BUILDING

THE ABUNDANT SOLAR ENERGY RESOURCES

OF CHINA

The combination of solar energy and building has a bright

China has rich solar energy resources. The sunshine time is

prospect. It predicts that the future city is the eco-city and the

more than 2200h in two thirds of the land area. The annual
2
amount of sunshine is about 3350-8400W/m ; it is equivalent
2
to 110-250kg standard coal/m . In the period of "Eighth Five

the eco-city and eco-architecture is the fully application of

future of the building is eco-building. The distinctive feature in

solar technology. With the rapid progress of science and
technology, solar architecture tends to be the active solar

Years", Chinese solar energy resources can be divided into five

buildings. From the development of the single small building to

parts. Even in the poor areas of solar energy resources, the

the large multi-building, the application of solar energy in

annual amount of radiation is close to Tokyo and higher than

978-1-4577-0399-7/11/$26.00 2011lEEE

452

August 22-24, 2011

buildings can be divided into three types: the fIrst is the pssive
accept technology. [4]It usually utilizes the structural desIgn to
use of the sun's heat to regulate indoor air temperature; the
second is the solar collective technology. It usually uses the
collector to heat water or other storage medium and to meet the
energy consumption in buildings when necessary; the third is
the solar energy conversion technology, which converts solar
energy directly into the electrical energy and provides lighting
for the buildings. The fIrst approach can be achieved by the
conventional techniques.

section drawn

plain
c:glass.
om=:tl d ca eter
F ;;; S
Collect loop
"""'''''' M ---- Heating loop
th

A.

The Passive Solar Architecture (Figure 1,2)

1) The application of the principle of passive solar

building
In general, solar
buildings refer to the
architectures which
take certain measures
to use solar energy
for winter heating or
summer
cooling.
"Solar
Heating
Room" is called for
the building which
Figure 1. Morse's solar energy devices
uses solar energy for
winter
heating;
"Solar
Cooling
Room" is called for
the building which I /
uses solar energy for
;
summer
cooling.
According to the use
indoor
of mechanical power
in the running of
solar system, solar
are
architectures
Figure 2. Principle drawing of TIM wall
the
into
divided
and
the
"active"
"passive". Among them, the transmission of the solr energ in
.
the room without the aid of mechanical power (VIa radIatIOn,
conduction and convection) is called as the "passive house". [5]
According to the basic structure types, the "passive house" can
be divided into many types: the direct heating gaining type; the
collective wall type; the additional sun room type; the water
wall type and so on. To the current residences in China, the
former three types of the solar houses have positive reference
values. (Figure 3, 4)

Figure 4. Solar house system of Massachusetts Institute of Technology

a) The directly type

This is a type of sun room which has been adopted for a
long time. There are the single layer glass windows or multiple
layers glass windows in the south elevation, which use the
floor and the side wall to storage heating. SpecifIcally, in the
sunshine stage, the sunshine launches into the room through the
glass floor (wall); the floor (wall) absorbs heat; the surface
.
temperature rises and passes part of the heat by convectIOn; the
other part exchanges in the inner surface; the third part from
the floor (wall) is saved. When there is no sunshine, the heat
which is saved gradually returns to the room and the rest are
delivered to the outdoors. This type of sun room, with the
structure, is easy to use, but when the day lighting is too strong,
the room temperature fluctuates. [6]
b) The type of collective wall
In 1956, scholars such as Trobe put forward a collective
program which has become popular now. This frm of solar
house heating mechanism is different from the dIrect benefIt
type. The sun shines cover the wall through the transparent
collector; the wall surface is coated with the higher heat
absorbing coating; the top and bottom have open vents and
there are controllable open doors. In these passive houses, the
sunlight covers the heavy wall through the collector in the
outer surface; solar heat absorbed, one part losses to the outside
through the transparent comer; another part heat the interlayer
air and make the different densities in the indoor air; through
the opening of the upper and lower vents, the natural
convection brings the hot air into the interior; the third part of
the heat transmits into the interior through the collector. This
"Collector Wall Solar House" uses the passive heating most
widely. [7]
For the building materials wall, the main difference of
structure is the vent. According to the availability and
distribution of vents, it can be divided into four categories: no
vents, the top vents, the bottom vents and the wall vents
uniform. Currently, the former two kinds of engineering walls
are called the "Trobe Wall"; the latter is known as the "lattice
wall".

c) The Type ofAttached Sun Room

The feature of this kind of sun room is that it has a glass
room in the south side of the building. The sun room and the
bedroom space are separated by a wall or window. The thermal

Figure 3. Solar hole in the architecture

453

mass general distributes inside the wall and the sun floor. From

lighting,

the view point of heating, the mechanism is the same as the

Photovoltaic solar collectors provide some energy for the

household

appliances'

consumption

and

so

on.

collective wall. Temperature does not require control. It can be

building, reducing the conventional energy such as electricity

used to plant flowers or other plants. [8] So the solar house

and the gas. Therefore, the solar building will not only bring

sometimes is called as an additional solar greenhouse room.

good economic returns but also ensure human health.

And compared to the passive collector, the additional solar

greenhouse room will increase the transparent areas between
the caps. So the heating surface increases and the effective heat
collected by the sun lowers. If the fans are installed on the vent,
it can speed up the transfer of energy to the room to avoid the
excessive energy loss.

The basic principles of passive solar design

2)

In those areas which have a hot summer and a cold winter,

the basic principles are:

a)
south;

The main and the best facade of the building is the

Figure 5. Multilayer house's solar energy system

b) If conditions allow, the windows in the south wall

should be as large as possible, so that the indoor thermal
environment can be improved in winter;

es lest u bad tank

exhaust tee

c) The top level window in south should not be longer

than l.Om;

retwn

outdoor

i e

d) Protective measures should be strengthened in the

external doors and windows; the outer door should use the
sealed layer across the double glazed windows to improve the
indoor thermal environment in winter;

roof

e) The south enclosed balcony is used as the sun room;

it uses the daylight to improve the indoor thermal environment;
j) Strengthen the thermal insulation in the wall
envelope;

Figure 6. Water cycle's solar energy

g) The roof form should slop as far as possible, with the

ventilated windows; good insulated materials with thermal
insulation effectively reduce the top radiant heating gainning
in summer;

2) Make the building more beautiful and reduce light

pollution
General building tends to adopt the strong reflection glass
to reduce the indoor temperature and brightness, but it makes

h) On the feet of the exterior wall in the south and west

plant vines, it can reduce surface temperature of the external
wall in summer and improve the indoor thermal environment;
i)

the environmental pollution. If part of the strong reflection

glass can be replaced by the solar collector panels and solar
panels. The architecture can serve multiple purposes. [10]

Control the indoor sunshine time.

It can not only control the level of indoor sunshine, convert

the energy concentration and storage electricity,

Passive solar building has a bright future. Because the

experimental

results

show

that

in summer

daily

light pollution.

temperature of the passive solar building is about 2.5C lower

than the

average building.

In winter the indoor

average

Although China has very large reserves of energy, many

the investment is increased by only 11%. [9]

areas

use the "Photoelectric Effect"

still in

energy

emergency,

In remote mountainous areas,

Active solar architectures are mainly reflected in two

First,

are

especially

in some

economical developed cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The Active Solar Architecture (Figure 5, 6)

aspects:

Alleviate the nervous energy in some regions

3)

temperature is 3.8C higher than the normal buildings, while

B.

but also

enhance the building aesthetics and practicality and can reduce

average

energy cannot be supplied

available. The use of solar energy in these areas will greatly

principle to

ease the energy requirement of the city's residents.

develop a large-scale solar power, and the second is the usage

of solar heating, including solar water heaters, solar cookers

III.

and so on. Compared to the ordinary buildings, the advantages

THE OUTLOOK AND PROBLEMS FOR SOLAR

ENERGY UTILIZATION

of active solar architectures are:

1)

A.

The building energy conservation

Building energy consumption refers to the use of building

The Prospects
To

energy, including heating, air conditioning, hot water, and

improve

the

application

lever

of

solar

energy

in

buildings, the Ministry of Construction has put the solar

454

building applications as an important part of the building

make difficulty to the large-scale use of solar energy. This

energy conservation in the 2010 plan, and hope that the

requires that the use of the solar energy should be focused on

development of "Chinese Domestic Sunshine" can promote the

the improvement of conversion and reduces the product costs.

Innovation is still the fundamental factor.

solar energy application in residential buildings.

From the current situation, the application of solar energy

enhance the combining capacity of the solar energy and

in building has shown the bright prospects. Take the solar

building.

battery as an example, although the current cost of solar cells is

still relatively high and the fashion is difficult to be a large

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[4]
[5]

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about

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455