Green and white roofs are sustainable solutions for reducing urban heat and improving building energy performance. When combined with photovoltaic (PV) systems, they are often promoted as technologies that also enhance solar energy yield. However, our comprehensive analysis reveals that...
The integration of renewable energies increases the need for flexible power to be able to always match supply and demand. One source of clean flexible power could be coming from the end-users as the systems at local scale transition to...
Through different scales and spaces in the city of Zurich, this article analyzes the potential for UIPV (Urban Integrated Photovoltaics). Based on interviews with stakeholders such as architects, engineers, and the city of Zurich, the article suggests various PV implementations...
Today, only a minority of Swiss households have air conditioners installed for cooling. This might change due to the warming climate and the growing integration of heat pumps to new buildings, which can be used for heating and cooling. The...
Energy storage is required to reliably and sustainably integrate renewable energy into the energy system. Diverse storage technology options are necessary to deal with the variability of energy generation and demand at different time scales, ranging from mere seconds to...
How can we couple future developments in the electricity and transport systems to support decarbonization? Combining Vehicle-to-Grid and car sharing could foster both innovations and achieve synergies in decarbonizing both sectors.
In order to efficiently integrate intermittent renewable energy into our grids, we need to change the role that buildings play in a city. Instead of being mere consumers, they need to become a swarm of smart prosumers capable of stabilizing...
Connecting buildings to a cross-sectoral, decentralized energy system is a proven means of integrating more renewable energy sources and further increasing energy efficiency. However, the operation of such highly interconnected energy systems is becoming painstaking. Data and algorithms will be...
As societies transition from using predominantly centralized energy supply sources to increasing dependency on distributed renewable energy generation, it is no longer enough to singularly focus on energy efficiency. In particular, the time sensitivity of electricity generated from solar and...
The integration of solar energy technologies in buildings has been available for several decades. However, many buildings are still built without any PV or solar thermal collectors, which in my opinion is an intolerable situation.
