Building integration of solar energy systems

The way solar systems are used in buildings is different from what it used to be. Buildings are no longer designed to use just passive solar energy systems, such as windows and sunspaces, or active solar systems, such as solar water collectors. In fact, the words passive and active no longer make sense, as the newer buildings combine several of these technologies. They may be both energy efficient. solar heated and cooled, and PV powered, i.e. they are simply "solar buildings". The paper discusses the various approaches in building integration of solar systems, and presents a number of successful examples. It also presents some of the work being done on improving the design processes to account for the need for a holistic approach to solar building design. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.