Assessing solar energy accessibility at high latitudes: A systematic review of urban spatial domains, metrics, and parameters

M. Formolli, T. Kleiven and G. Lobaccaro

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2023, vol. 177, issue C

Abstract: This paper presents a systematic literature review of solar energy studies conducted in Nordic built environments to provide an overview of the current status of the research, identify the most common metrics and parameters at high latitudes, and identify research gaps. 55 publications are included in the review and categorized according to three main urban spatial domains: (i) outdoor, (ii) envelope, and (iii) indoor. In addition, a category for publications investigating more than one spatial domain (multi-domain) is included. The first part of the paper presents a publication analysis of keywords, history and methods, channels, citations, geographical distribution, and spatial domain coverage. In the second part, the main findings for each urban spatial domain are presented and discussed. The results show that the majority of the studies applied numerical methods in their workflow and the envelope is the most researched spatial domain, with studies focusing either on the potential exploitation of solar energy through active solar systems, or the prediction of indoor daylight conditions by using the façade as a proxy for the indoor domain. Among the main findings, urban density, building morphology, and orientation are the most utilized parameters, while solar irradiation and direct sunlight are the most common metrics. This review paper reveals significant research gaps in the field of solar accessibility in high-latitude Nordic built environments: (i) numerical studies that simultaneously address and interlink all three urban spatial domains are missing; (ii) deeper investigation of the outdoor domain is needed.

Keywords: Solar accessibility; Solar energy; High latitudes; Urban planning; Multi-domain; Parameters; Metrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123000874
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:177:y:2023:i:c:s1364032123000874

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.113231

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().