Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-024-03004-9

REVIEW

Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Brian Senyonyi1 · Hatem Mahmoud2,3 · Hamdy Hassan1,4

Received: 4 April 2024 / Accepted: 6 September 2024

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024

Abstract
The rapid advancement of the building sector in the last decade has led to a significant increase in energy usage, accounting
for about 40% of the world’s total energy consumption. With about 80% of this energy derived from fossil fuels, the result-
ing greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global warming. The zero energy buildings (ZEB) concept offers a promising
solution to reduce the energy and carbon footprint of buildings using renewable energy resources. This paper presents a
scientometric and systematic review of solar energy techniques applied in ZEBs. Key contributions include a discussion of
practical passive and active solar techniques, identification of knowledge gaps and limitations in recent studies, and scien-
tific mapping and discussion of hot topics, keywords, and global research efforts. The review highlights the need for more
experimental studies, research in diverse climatic conditions, academia-industry collaborations at national and international
levels, and zero energy status consideration in the industrial settings. Additionally, development of skilled labor through
training programs are essential for the widespread adoption of ZEBs. By leveraging the insights provided, stakeholders and
researchers can make informed decisions to achieve sustainable and economically viable ZEBs.
Graphical abstract

Keywords Zero energy buildings (ZEB) · Solar energy techniques · Energy efficiency · Research gap · Renewable energy
sources (RES)

Extended author information available on the last page of the article

Vol.:(0123456789)
 B. Senyonyi et al.

Introduction renewable energy sources or else the electrical grid can be

used to make up the difference. Surplus energy produced by
A building is an enclosed construction with walls and a roof a ZEB can be fed into the local grid and used later (Newton
that is standing in one place more or less permanently. This and Tucker 2009; Gado et al. 2022) (Fig. 1).
enclosure may be a residential, commercial, institutional, or ZEBs are categorized in accordance with the energy sup-
an educational building. According to the EU’s Energy Per- ply, demand, and consumption of the building. Four recent
formance of Building Directive, a Zero Energy Building is definitions including; net zero site energy, net zero source
one that has a remarkably high energy performance and uses energy, net zero energy expenses, and net zero energy emis-
on-site renewable energy sources. Torcellini et al. (2006) sions—have been provided in several publications (Baner-
offered the first definition of a ZEB in the 1970s, describing jee 2015). The grid is used for net use accounting in each
it as a building that can be heated continuously in winter definition, which follows a separate energy use accounting
with renewable energy as the primary energy source. The methodology, and many renewable energy sources are rel-
idea steadily gained popularity over the ensuing decades, evant (Liu et al. 2019). As of 2021, buildings accounted for
with a focus on minimizing the usage of non-renewables about 40% of the world’s energy use, representing a 30% rise
in buildings while maximizing the utilization of renewa- from 2010 to 2021 and implying a subsequent heavy burden
bles so as to optimize buildings’ energy-saving potential on the economy, the electrical system, and non-renewable
(Deymi-Dashtebayaz et al. 2022). The US Department of energy sources in different countries (Ahmed et al. 2022).
Energy (DoE) defines a ZEB as one that generates enough Furthermore, 35% of EU energy-related emissions in 2020
energy from renewables to fulfill its annual energy needs came from buildings, making them higher contributors to
(U.S. Department of Energy 2015). To completely remove carbon emissions (Choi et al. 2023). These emissions are
the usage of fossil fuels, a ZEB must integrate commer- produced as a result of burning fossil fuels to provide heat
cially available renewable energy technology with energy- and electricity for use in buildings for lighting, HVAC sys-
efficient construction techniques (Laustsen 2008). Noguchi tems, and water heating (Kurnitski et al. 2011). Due to the
et al. (Noguchi et al. 2008) termed Zero-energy buildings as high energy provided by the fossil fuels, a number of busi-
those that do not use fossil fuels but rather fully rely on solar nesses and factories continue to use conventional energy
energy and other renewables to supply their energy needs. sources, i.e., oil and gas to generate electricity, steam, and
Marszal and Heiselberg (2009) defined a ZEB as a home heat throughout their operations (Heo et al. 2022; Senyo-
that uses exactly as much energy as it produces throughout nyi et al. 2024a). Even though renewable energy systems
a specific period. The building’s energy requirements should are unreliable to cover all the building’s needs due to their
be entirely satisfied by the energy produced on-site from intermittency, recent research shows that if fully harnessed,
they have a high potential to supply all of the world’s annual
energy needs (Hansen et al. 2019; Wei et al. 2023). ZEBs
offers numerous sustainable advantages such as decreased
carbon and other GHG emissions, decreased energy con-
sumption and reliance on the conventional grid, cost savings
from grid electricity, environmental compatibility, isolation
from future energy rate rising, no end-user impact from the
external energy crisis, higher resale value, and sustainable
building practices, among others (Hale 2018; Ahmed et al.
2022). The establishment of ZEBs is however slowed down
by several factors, including but not limited to larger initial
expenditure, seasonal changes, the location of the site, a lack
of technical experience, and the need for up to date technol-
ogy (Jaysawal et al. 2022; Choi et al. 2023). It’s worth not-
ing that several factors, including location, season, time of
the day, occupant consumption patterns, building type, and
electrical component efficiency, among others, can affect the
energy usage of the building (Lin and Chen 2022; Senyonyi
et al. 2024b). Therefore, the energy supply from the RES
varies based on the building’s location, climate zones, and
seasons thus influencing the RES to be employed in order
to achieve a zero-energy building (Mehrjerdi et al. 2019;
Fig. 1  Zero-energy building concept (Dutta Pramanik et al. 2021) D’Agostino et al. 2022).
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Luo et al. (2022) studied the viability of using a hybrid

offshore wind turbine and wave system to power a coastal
zero-energy hotel building and were able to significantly
lower the annual equivalent ­CO2 emissions while reducing
building electricity demand by 26%. Allouhi et al. (2022)
optimized a hybrid system for electricity generation for a
residential building in Dahkla, Morocco. The study com-
bined a Wind Turbine (WT) with a Solar Dish Stirling
(SDS) technology using artificial intelligence (XAI)-
based generative model to generate stochastic scenarios
for offshore wind power in an electrical grid. Heo et al.,
(2022) carried out a simulation study using wind power to
assess the feasibility of reducing energy consumption in
the petrochemical industry while at the same time decar-
bonizing the industry. The study’s findings showed that
carbon capture and storage can cut the energy produc-
tion expenses overall and the cost of using fossil fuels
by 4% and 42%, respectively, while reducing C ­ O2 emis-
sions by 41%. An average organic design can be powered
by a hybrid wind turbine and photovoltaic system that
Fig. 2  Wind energy technique in zero energy buildings (Geograph was developed, simulated, and assessed by (Icaza et al.
2024) 2023). The outcomes were contrasted with experimental
data obtained from a real airplane-type system situated in
a remote region of Ecuador. Moving forward, numerous
Zero energy buildings techniques studies have shown that heat pumps are among the most
economical and energy-efficient technologies for ZEBs.
Recent studies have achieved zero energy status in build- Heat pumps as seen in Fig. 3 are a sort of geothermal
ings by using various clean energy techniques, including energy application that heat rooms and provide hot water
solar, wind, geothermal, phase change materials, biomass, for buildings by taking advantage of the earth’s subsurface
wave, hydrogen, and hydro (Islam et al. 2021; Jiang et al. rocks, soils, and water’s constant temperature regardless of
2022; Huang et al. 2023; Kwok and Hu 2023). In the wind the weather (Luo et al. 2023). For instance, more than 90%
technique, wind turbines convert kinetic energy to electrical of the structures in Switzerland have heat pumps installed
power. The lift force outweighs the drag force when wind (Orehounig et al. 2014).
flow hits an airfoil blade portion of a turbine causing the Another study that focused on the design of a commer-
blades to turn thus producing power (Kwok and Hu 2023). cial hall in Hameenlinna, Finland, (Fadejev et al. 2016)
Wind turbines can be elevated on top of buildings to har- conducted a numerical analysis on the impact of different
ness wind power for zero energy buildings since wind speed thermal storage choices and ground heat exchangers, as
increases with the height of the building (Fig. 2). well as possible combinations, on the heating and cooling
capabilities of heat pump plants. The results demonstrated

Fig. 3  Geothermal energy in

zero energy buildings (istock
2024)
 B. Senyonyi et al.

Fig. 4  Biomass feedstocks

used in zero energy buildings
(National Geograpic 2024)

that GSHPs were an excellent heat source substitute for an off-grid linked building in Kuwait with four tenants that
Zero Energy Buildings designs. For a pair of independent used hydrogen energy as a store for this building. Moving
solar photovoltaic (PV) and HVAC systems in residential forward, hydropower facilities are also among the most
buildings located in each of the twelve climate zones in the dependable and efficient renewables on the planet used to
USA, (Neves et al. 2021) modeled a path to net-zero energy achieve zero energy status in buildings. Unlike other tech-
and identified the optimum combination for each zone. To niques, this technique is based on the availability of water
achieve 100% renewable office buildings, Pilou et al. (2022) in enormous quantities since the target user is beyond just a
evaluated an integrated energy system made up of multi- single home but a larger community (Tsuanyo et al. 2023).
source heat pumps, ground heat exchanger systems, and PV-
Thermal (PVT) collectors in Copenhagen, Denmark, and
Athens, Greece. Franco and Fantozzi (2016) observed for Aim of the current study
a year how a typical Italian home in Pisa, equipped with
a GSHP and a PV, operated. The energy performance of a From the previous literature survey, many energy sources
hybrid geo-PV system toward reaching zero energy buildings mainly renewables were investigated to achieve ZEBs.
was evaluated using the actual data from this building. Fur- It’s worth mentioning that even though it is intermittent,
thermore, biomass is the most effective alternative energy solar energy is an abundant and promising energy source
source for ZEBs in terms of energy supply since ZEBs need among all the other renewables. Moreover, previous research
a dependable and consistent energy source (D’Agostino and regarding solar energy use in buildings has indicated positive
Mazzarella 2019). This is because a consistent supply can results and thus the research concerning solar application in
typically be maintained so long as there is adequate feed- buildings is most likely to expand in the next decades. Fur-
stock supporting the biomass system, as opposed to wind or thermore, most of the previous review works on this topic
solar energy which are both affected by climate conditions majorly focused on the use of solar energy to reduce building
(Fig. 4).
Feedstocks, such as paper, food waste, agricultural
produce, sewage, and wood, can be used to create bioen- Table 1  Search query in Scopus database
ergy (Ebrahimi-Moghadam and Farzaneh-Gord 2023). To
Stage Filtering criteria Limited to Screening Considered
develop a hotel in Beijing, China, Jie et al. (2023) optimized
the enviro-economic exergy of a (BGCCHP) system coupled 1 Result from initial _ _ 288
with a ground source heat pump (GSHP). To satisfy a build- search
ing’s electrical, heating, and cooling needs and make it a 2 Year 1986–2023 _ 159
ZEB, (Ebrahimi-Moghadam and Farzaneh-Gord 2023) used 3 Subject area _ _ 159
an inventive optimization approach to design and size a sus- 4 Language English _ 159
tainable trigeneration system powered by biomass (MSW: 5 Document type _ _ 85
municipal solid waste) and an externally fired gas turbine. 6 Source type _ _ 85
This addressed the gap between supply and demand in the No Keywords and search strings
building. Additionally, a number of studies have discussed 1 "Solar" AND "Application" OR “Applied” AND "Tech-
niques"
hydrogen production and storage as another sustainable
2 "Zero" AND "Energy" AND "Buildings
strategy for zero-energy buildings. Based on the advantages
3 "Zero" AND "Energy" AND "Industry"
and uses of hydrogen, Hai et al. (2023) modeled and created
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

energy consumption and grid dependence. However, the be more focused and oriented to those studies that mainly
current study presents a systematic review on solar energy considered solar energy use in buildings. Additionally, the
techniques including active, passive, and hybrid techniques Scopus database was the used archive for this search for two
applied to achieve zero energy status in buildings. Addition- major reasons including; providing a wide range of studies
ally, the study includes a scientometric analysis combined concerning solar energy use in buildings around the globe
with scientific mapping technology and a comprehensive and its availability to the authors. As shown in Table 1, the
discussion to answer the following research questions: search was fine tuned by adding more specifications such
as language, and year of publication among others in order
RQ1. What are the most important keywords, active to have the best and most accurate previous studies align-
researchers, and publications for solar energy applica- ing with the study objective while further eliminating out
tions in zero energy buildings?. of scope papers. A flowchart of the current study approach
RQ2. What is the presented recent studies for active, pas- is shown in Fig. 5. The main elements of the flowchart are
sive, and hybrid solar energy techniques applied in zero briefly described in the sections that follow.
energy buildings?
RQ3. What are the existing research gaps and future Scientometric mapping and analysis
trends for solar energy techniques in zero energy build-
ings? A quantitative scientific mapping technique is used in this
paper thus mapping networks in broader data sets. Addition-
The paper includes sections containing the introduction, ally, scientific mapping has emerged as an effective tool for
methodology, passive, active, and hybrid solar techniques academics to describe and analyze sizable bibliometric data
applied in ZEB, the limitations and gaps in recent studies sets for a variety of objectives (Ahn et al. 2023). The method
and recommendations. considers the difficulties most reviews face during mapping
the relationships between, countries, researchers, keywords,
and research outlets within a given study subject (Su and Lee
Methodology 2010). According to Hosseini et al. (2018), a scientometric
analysis uses bibliometric data, strategies, and methods to
The research techniques and resources used to carry out the map the literature in a scientific manner. Figure 6 shows the
scientometric analysis are described in this section. To pro- science mapping for the density of keywords.
vide a thorough overview of the study methods used, subsec-
tions are offered. During the search of papers on the current
topic, only titles with specific words were used as seen in
Table 1. This was so in order to narrow down the scope to

Fig. 5  Methodology framework

 B. Senyonyi et al.

Fig. 6  Science mapping for the

density of keywords

Choice of the database chosen because it was compatible with the file types that
VOSviewer (version 1.6.9) accepted.
Web of Science and Scopus are the most popular databases
that index research articles about energy management and Search and retrieve publications
solar energy use in buildings (Omrany et al. 2022). Although
they provide a variety of platforms for data extraction, pub- In this study, the Scopus database was utilized to conduct
lications on the same topics that are indexed in these two an extensive search to find papers on solar application tech-
databases tend to vary. Due to its larger coverage of research niques in zero-energy buildings. It filters and selects the
papers and inclusion of more recent data in comparison to right quality data while providing extensive publications
other databases, Scopus was chosen for this investigation including conference proceedings, scientific journals, and
(Liu 2013). books based on the authors’ preference and aim of the study
(Baas et al. 2020). Furthermore, it is among the most fil-
Choice of software tool tered abstract and citation databases as of 2021 (Debrah
et al. 2021).
The software tool is crucial when trying to visualize large The Scopus search engine started by exploring titles,
datasets. It is important to be informed of a tool’s character- abstracts, and keywords. In the current study, the key words
istics, limitations, and applicability to the study before using used in the search query are from the title of the intended
it (van Eck and Waltman 2010). Numerous software pro- study. This is to smoothen the filtering process and thus
grams have been created to map literature scientifically and arrive to articles mostly in and around the scope. Moreover,
with greater scope (Su and Lee 2010). These software tools during the search, the SCOPUS database requires that short
however differ in their power, capabilities, and restrictions. phrases and key words are used with the “AND” and “OR”
Some of them have specific applications in scientific map- in between to further narrow down the scope thus obtaining
ping, while others were developed for general science map- a more accurate scope. The years of study depend on factors
ping. The most widely used software programs for science including but not limited to the popularity of the topic in
mapping include CitNet, Explorer, Gephi, VantagePoint, recent years and the aim of the study. It is important to note
CiteSpace, BibExcel, and VOS viewer. VOS viewer (ver- the English language was selected since most of the current
sion 1.6.19) was however chosen for the current study since scientific audiences globally use it. Table 1 indicates the full
it provides enough elements for bibliometric network visu- search process from the keywords and scope.
alization and scientific literature mapping. The text-mining
method has recently been used in Scientometric reviews and Analysis of topic published works
is specially created for mapping bibliometric data (Yoshimi
et al. 2022.). Additionally, it gives the researcher a chance Using the search strings listed above, academic literature
to import data from Dimensions, PubMed, RIS, Web of Sci- searches in Scopus were carried out. As of May 2023, the
ence, Scopus, Crossref JSON, and Crossref API. Scopus was search parameter filters turned up a sum of 159 publications.
A study must have had Solar-applications/techniques in zero
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Fig. 7  Annual publication trend of articles

energy buildings as its primary topic to be considered for the advantageous economic sustainability of green energy
inclusion. Out of scope studies were therefore disregarded. sources like solar, etc. (Bosu et al. 2023) which frees energy
Additionally, only papers publications in the "English lan- consuming facilities from the growing electricity rates and
guage" were included in the Scopus filter. The relevant arti- lowers the nation’s carbon footprint. In the following years,
cles were then carefully screened out of the 159 publica- 2021 and 2022, there was a significant rising trend, with
tions’ entire texts. Each article was manually evaluated by about 34 articles noted. However, as of May 2023, about
the writers, who then typed essential information meant to nine papers had already been published, suggesting that an
address the main goals of the study. Finally, 85 studies were upward and positive trend may be realized in 2023.
found pertinent to the scientometric review after filtering to
exclude any unrelated studies. Moreover, these were also Main research areas Keywords
deemed sufficient. This is because various experts employed
similar connected keywords that are earlier cited from rel- To create and visualize keywords and networks from scien-
evant studies in the topic domain when choosing their key- tific literature, VOS viewer builds networks of keywords that
words (Wang et al. 2019; Souley Agbodjan et al. 2022). frequently appear together (Debrah et al. 2021). According
to a scientometric analysis of author keywords, academic
publications’ true contents can be learned (Su and Lee
Bibliometric results and discussions 2010). Initially, the original purpose of this kind of analysis
was to provide retrievals with target orientation, but later
Yearly publication trend of relevant papers applications included rating and displaying study findings
(Callon et al. 1991). Moving forward, co-occurrence is
Figure 7 shows an overview of the publication pattern of the term used to describe a scenario where two keywords
relevant articles from 1986 to 2023 in three distinct stages. appear simultaneously. It also demonstrates the connections
About 10 pertinent articles were published between between the various areas. The current study used fractional
1986 and 2011, which might be referred to as the period counting in the analysis of the final selected 85 articles and
of gradual development. There was a slow increase to 36 1022 keywords were discovered. Forty-four (44) keywords
articles from 2012 to 2020. Research interest in this sub- satisfied the “minimum number of occurrences” require-
ject continued to rise throughout the ensuing years. This ment, which was set at 5. Four (4) distinct clusters in all
increase may be due to among other things, the growing were found. Sixteen (16) items were in Cluster 1 (green), ten
awareness of the increased usage of energy in buildings, the (10) were in Cluster 2 (red), ten (10) were in Cluster 3 (pur-
negative effects of an excessive use of non-renewables, plus ple), and 8 were in Cluster 4 (yellow). Figure 8 elaborates
 B. Senyonyi et al.

Fig. 8  Clusters and concentra-

tion of key words

Table 2  Top 20 most commonly occurring keywords

S/N Keyword Occurrence Total link S/N Keyword Occurrence Total link
strength* strength*

1 Zero energy buildings 28 27 11 Heating 9 9

2 Energy utilization 24 24 12 Optimization 9 9
3 Energy efficiency 20 22 13 Renewable energies 10 9
4 Solar power generation 19 20 14 Renewable energy 10 9
5 Solar energy 14 17 15 Photovoltaic cells 8 9
6 Buildings 13 13 16 Solar power 8 8
7 Architectural design 12 13 17 Energy consumption 8 8
8 Building 11 12 18 Intelligent buildings 8 8
9 Renewable energy resources 11 11 19 Historic preservation 8 8
10 Energy conversion 9 10 20 Energy management 8 8

*Total link strength depicts the interrelationship between the given document and other documents. Zero energy buildings, energy utilization,
energy efficiency, solar power generation, and solar energy are the top five most regularly appearing terms, according to the data

the cluster colors and the concentration of keywords in the Future research directions
current study.
Green and purple were the highest and least dense This subsection elaborates more on some of the potential
colors, respectively. Green symbols, i.e., indicated, among research directions in the field of solar application tech-
other things, an advanced density for energy management, niques in zero energy buildings based on the co-citation
energy utilization, solar structures, and energy consump- analysis and keywords as seen in Fig. 31 and Table 4.
tion. Identification would help potential researchers choose
keywords that will make it simple to find published content Energy utilization Energy utilization in ZEBs focuses on
on a certain topic (Ahmad et al. 2021). Table 2 provides a optimizing the use of energy within buildings to achieve
summary of the top 20 terms that appeared most times in maximum efficiency and sustainability. Research in this
current subject publications. area includes the development of advanced energy manage-
ment systems that can monitor and control energy consump-
tion in real-time. Integrating smart grids and IoT (Internet of
Things) technologies can significantly enhance energy utili-
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

zation by enabling dynamic energy distribution and reduc- Buildings and architectural design The design of build-
ing wastage. Future research should explore the potential of ings and their architectural elements plays a crucial role in
AI and machine learning algorithms in predicting energy achieving ZEBs. Research in this area includes the devel-
demand and optimizing energy usage patterns, ensuring that opment of innovative building designs that maximize solar
ZEBs can efficiently balance energy supply and demand. exposure and minimize energy consumption. Incorporat-
ing passive solar design elements, such as Trombe walls
Energy efficiency Energy efficiency is a cornerstone of and solar chimneys, can significantly enhance the energy
ZEBs, aiming to reduce the overall energy consumption of performance of buildings. Future research should focus
buildings. Research in this area includes the development on developing new architectural designs and construction
of high-performance insulation materials, energy-efficient techniques that can further optimize the energy perfor-
windows, and advanced HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air mance of ZEBs, ensuring that buildings are designed from
conditioning) systems. Incorporating passive solar design the ground up to be energy-efficient and sustainable.
elements, such as proper building orientation and shading
devices, can significantly enhance energy efficiency. Future Residential buildings Residential buildings are a sig-
research should focus on developing new materials and nificant focus of ZEB research, as they represent a large
technologies that can further improve the energy efficiency portion of the building sector’s energy consumption.
of ZEBs, as well as exploring the integration of renewable Research in this area includes the development of energy-
energy sources to minimize reliance on conventional energy. efficient building designs and the integration of renewable
energy systems. Incorporating energy-efficient appliances
Solar power generation Solar power generation is a key and smart home technologies can significantly reduce
aspect of achieving ZEBs, as it provides a renewable and the energy consumption of residential buildings. Future
sustainable source of energy. Research in this area includes research should explore the potential of community-scale
the development of advanced photovoltaic (PV) technolo- renewable energy systems and the development of policies
gies, such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and and incentives to promote the adoption of ZEBs in the
hybrid PV-T systems. Integrating PV systems into build- residential sector, making sustainable living accessible to
ing facades and roofs can significantly reduce the reliance more people.
on conventional energy sources. Future research should
explore the potential of emerging solar technologies, such Building energy‑saving technology Building energy-saving
as perovskite solar cells and concentrated solar power (CSP) technology encompasses a wide range of innovations aimed
systems, to enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of at reducing the energy consumption of buildings. Research
solar power generation in ZEBs. in this area includes the development of advanced insula-
tion materials, energy-efficient lighting systems, and smart
building technologies. Integrating these technologies into

Fig. 9  Countries/ region science

mapping network imaging
 B. Senyonyi et al.

building designs can significantly enhance energy savings. systems, ensuring that ZEBs can efficiently manage energy
Future research should focus on developing new energy- demand and supply.
saving technologies and exploring their integration with
renewable energy systems, ensuring that ZEBs can achieve Thermal comfort Thermal comfort is a critical aspect of
maximum energy efficiency. building design, as it directly impacts the occupants’ well-
being and productivity. Research in this area includes the
Simulation methods Simulation methods are essential development of advanced HVAC systems and passive solar
for evaluating the energy performance of buildings and design elements(Chan et al. 2010). Incorporating these ele-
optimizing their design. Research in this area includes the ments into building designs can significantly enhance ther-
development of advanced simulation tools and techniques mal comfort while reducing energy consumption (Gupta and
that can accurately model the energy consumption of build- Tiwari 2016). Future research should focus on developing
ings. Using simulation methods can significantly enhance new technologies and techniques that can further enhance
the design and performance of ZEBs. Future research thermal comfort in ZEBs, ensuring that occupants enjoy
should focus on developing new simulation tools and tech- a comfortable living environment without compromising
niques that can provide more accurate and detailed analy- energy efficiency.
ses of building energy performance, helping designers and
engineers create more efficient ZEBs. Office buildings Office buildings represent a significant por-
tion of the building sector’s energy consumption. Research
Carbon emissions Reducing carbon emissions is a criti- in this area includes the development of energy-efficient
cal goal of ZEBs, as buildings are a significant source of building designs and the integration of renewable energy
greenhouse gas emissions. Research in this area includes the systems. Incorporating energy-efficient lighting systems
development of low-carbon building materials and the inte- and smart building technologies can significantly reduce
gration of renewable energy systems. Incorporating these the energy consumption of office buildings. Future research
elements into building designs can significantly reduce car- should explore the potential of new technologies and tech-
bon emissions. Future research should focus on developing niques that can further enhance the energy performance of
new low-carbon materials and technologies and exploring office buildings, making them more sustainable and energy-
their integration with renewable energy systems, ensuring efficient.
that ZEBs contribute to global efforts to mitigate climate
change. Photovoltaic systems Photovoltaic systems are a key com-
ponent of ZEBs, as they provide a renewable and sustain-
Demand management Demand management involves opti- able source of energy. Research in this area includes the
mizing the energy consumption of buildings to match the development of advanced PV technologies and the integra-
available energy supply. Research in this area includes the tion of PV systems into building designs. Incorporating PV
development of advanced energy management systems and systems into building facades and roofs can significantly
demand response programs. Integrating these systems into reduce the reliance on conventional energy sources. Future
building designs can significantly enhance energy efficiency research should focus on developing new PV technologies
and reduce peak energy demand. Future research should with higher efficiencies and exploring their integration with
focus on developing new demand management technolo- other renewable energy systems, ensuring that ZEBs can
gies and exploring their integration with renewable energy achieve maximum energy efficiency and sustainability.

Fig. 10  External Shading

devices (Alhuwayil et al. 2019;
Heidari et al. 2021)
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Fig. 11  Internal shading devices

(de Loyola Ramos Garcia and
Ruttkay Pereira 2021)

Fig. 12  Solar chimney in a residential building (Suhendri et al. 2022)

By addressing these research directions, future studies most dense population are shown in the continental color
can significantly advance the field of ZEBs and promote the demonstration. There are 14 countries that have contributed
widespread adoption of sustainable building practices. Con- to the study field because the minimum number of docu-
tinued research, policy support, and industry engagement ments for a country/region was set at four. The highest docu-
are essential for overcoming the challenges and limitations ments were delivered by India and the USA, 8 apiece. Addi-
identified in this study and achieving the goal of net-zero tionally, India had the most citations with 353, followed by
energy buildings. Iran, China, and the US. With a percentage score of 47.5%,
Asia had the highest ranking among the continents, followed
Top contributing countries/regions by Europe with a score of 25%. Africa came in fourth with
8.75%, having the fewest published articles, and North
Figure 9 illustrates the country’s contribution to the aim of America came in third with 18.75%. Researchers will be
the study. The countries with the highest participation and helped by this representation of the participating nations
 B. Senyonyi et al.

and areas in developing scientific collaborations, producing systems in buildings. The two types of solar technologies
joint venture reports, and exchanging novel approaches and extensively studied by different researchers to achieve ZEBs
concepts(Ahmad et al. 2021). include passive and active solar technologies.
Based on the previous scientometric analysis, the research
papers used for the following review of the solar energy Passive techniques
applications for ZEB are selected and discussed.
Passive solar techniques play a crucial role in achieving
energy efficiency and reducing reliance on active heating and
Solar energy techniques in ZEB cooling systems in ZEBs. To receive, store, and transfer the
energy from the sun, passive solar systems rely on natural
The most plentiful, cleanest, and easily accessible renew- heat flow phenomena rather than artificial equipment like
able energy source on earth is solar (Elghamry and Hassan pumps and fans (Elghamry et al. 2019; Sergei et al. 2020).
2020a). For most places, it is a great substitute for fossil Both the consumption and conversion of solar energy into
fuels. Tremendous efforts have been made over the years electricity are not factors in this method (Lin 2021). This
to harness the solar energy resources to meet the needs of type’s main purpose is to provide buildings with lighting,
buildings such as from façade BIPVs to rooftop PV appli- ventilation, heating, and cooling. The building design is the
cations. Most modern structures, however, use electricity main way that the use of passive solar designs may be illus-
produced fossil fuels. The main goals of integrating solar trated (Akadiri et al. 2012). It is vital to remember that a
technologies have been to conserve energy, improve sus- passive solar building uses solar gains to lower the energy
tainability, and lessen the carbon imprint. Saving energy needed to carry out the duties. All activities, including radia-
intended for space and water heating, cooling, ventilation, tion, absorption, natural convection, and conduction through
power, and lighting is a noteworthy contribution of solar the air and other building materials, take place under the

Fig. 13  A classical Tromble

wall in Wang’s study (Wang
et al. 2020)

Cold months Hot months

Fig. 14  Solar chimney in a residential building(Askari and Jahangir 2023)
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

circumstances of natural energy flow since the building Solar greenhouses

maximizes solar benefits. Additionally, the passive struc-
ture can use solar energy through a direct heat acquisition Solar greenhouses are specialized structures designed to
mechanism, where the interior materials work as the heat maximize solar heat gain for plant cultivation. They employ
storage medium and the windows operate as the collectors large areas of glazing to allow sunlight to penetrate and heat
(Bosu et al. 2023). The most used passive solar techniques the interior. The glazing materials trap the solar energy, cre-
to achieve zero energy buildings in recent works include ating a warm and controlled environment for plant growth.
orienting a building to take advantage of the sun’s natural (El-Awady et al. 2014). The thermal mass of the greenhouse
heating and cooling effects, using large windows and sky- structure, such as concrete or water containers, helps store
lights, shading devices, and thermal mass materials (Chan the heat during the day and release it at night, maintaining
et al. 2010). Broadly, these have been categorized as passive a stable temperature. Solar greenhouses enable year-round
solar gain. cultivation by providing a consistent and warm environment
for plants without relying on external heating sources. Li
Sunspaces et al. (2023) indicated that solar greenhouses can save about
8.75% of the building heat loss.
These are also known as solariums or solar rooms. They
are architectural features designed to capture and retain
Shading devices
solar heat directly from the sun. They are typically attached
to the south-facing side of a building and consist of large,
External and internal shading devices play a crucial role in
glazed windows or transparent panels that allow sunlight
ZEBs by managing solar heat gain, reducing cooling loads,
to enter(Monge-Barrio and Sánchez-Ostiz 2015). The glaz-
and enhancing occupant comfort. External shading devices,
ing materials trap the solar radiation, converting it into heat
such as overhangs, louvers, and fins shown in Fig. 10, are
energy that warms up the space and using sunspaces is more
installed on the exterior of buildings to block direct sunlight
efficient when winter severity increases (Gainza-Barrencua
and minimize solar heat gain (Alhuwayil et al. 2019). (Cho
et al. 2022). It is found that for the warmest Spanish climate
et al. 2014) confirmed that the solar heat gain is reduced
zone, using sunspaces can achieve energy savings of 60%.
by the two exterior shading devices; the vertical panel and
Sunspaces act as thermal buffers, absorbing and storing heat
horizontal overhang) can lead to a reduction of the building
during the day and releasing it gradually into the adjoining
cooling energy demand by 17.3% and 19.7%, respectively.
rooms during cooler periods, reducing the need for mechani-
Internal shading devices, such as blinds, curtains, and
cal heating systems.
shades as stated in Fig. 11, are placed inside the building to
control glare and regulate daylight penetration (de Loyola
Ramos Garcia and Ruttkay Pereira 2021). These shading

Fig. 15  Solar Ace Unit (Florio et al. 2022)

 B. Senyonyi et al.

Fig. 16  Results from Nafea’s study (Nafeaa et al. 2020)

strategies help optimize energy efficiency, reduce the need energy consumption in Delhi when it faces the North direc-
for mechanical cooling, and enhance natural lighting. de tion (26.42%), followed by (20.90%). For Chennai when it
Loyola Ramos Garcia and Ruttkay Pereira (2021) showed faces North direction. Zhu et al. (2009) found that the overall
that clear roller shades achieved a cooling demand reduction energy consumption for the mass wall building through peak
of 6% and 12% at the east and west façades, respectively. time is 14 kWh smaller than that of the baseline house.

Trombe wall
Solar chimney
A Trombe wall is a passive solar heating system consisting
A solar chimney as shown in Fig. 12 is a passive ventilation
of a thick, high thermal mass wall located on the south side
system that utilizes solar energy to create natural airflow
of a building (Zhang et al. 2020) (Elghamry and Hassan
within a building (Elghamry and Hassan 2020b). It consists
2020c). The wall is typically constructed with materials that
of a vertical duct or chimney, typically located on the south
absorb and store solar heat during the day and release it
side of the structure, with a transparent glazing material on
slowly at night, providing comfortable temperatures (Wang
the top (Fine et al. 2022). As sunlight strikes the glazing,
et al. 2020) as shown in Fig. 13. It works by allowing sun-
it heats the air inside the chimney, causing it to rise. This
light to penetrate through a transparent glazing, which
creates a pressure difference, drawing in cool air from the
heats the wall. The heated wall then radiates warmth into
building’s interior (Suhendri et al. 2022).
the interior space, reducing the need for additional heating.
RC-Radiative cooling, SC-Solar chimney, and
Figure 14 shows the reduction for the cold and hot months’
PE- Polyethylene.
energy consumption due to the use of normal Trombe wall
in Tehran climate conditions for 10 mm (TW10), 15 mm
Building orientation
(TW15), 18 mm (TW18), 20 mm (TW20), and 25 mm
(TW25) air gap thickness.
Proper building orientation is a fundamental passive solar
design strategy. By aligning the building’s main axis with
Building color and design
the path of the sun, designers can maximize solar expo-
sure during winter months and minimize it during sum-
The study conducted by (Di et al. 2017) concluded that
mer (Da Costa Duarte and Rosa-Jiménez 2022; Dai et al.
altering the outside color of buildings from dark to white
2023). In the Northern hemisphere, South-facing windows
greatly reduces thermal loads in the summer, lowering cool-
receive the most sunlight throughout the day during sum-
ing energy requirements. This was seen in Mediterranean
mer, allowing for direct solar gain. North-facing windows,
vernacular buildings, where white lime-wash was utilized
on the other hand, provide balanced daylighting without
to promote thermal comfort and save energy. The study
excessive heat gain. East and west-facing windows may
emphasizes the need to take into account local climate and
require shading devices to control solar heat gain. (Renuka
environmental conditions while designing a building.
et al. 2022) found a reduction in the percentage of building
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Fig. 17  Zero Energy Gymnasium Building in Khan et al. (2017) study

(Hong et al. 2022) conducted field research in Xian-

iHarbour to investigate the validity of urban construction
guidelines. The surface temperatures of buildings of vari-
ous colors and materials were researched, and the solar
energy received by these surfaces was measured. The find-
ings revealed that variations in surface colors resulted in
significant surface temperature disparities. Furthermore,
surface temperature disparities across facades induced by
color differences were highly and positively correlated with
the amount of solar radiation received, providing insights
into lowering building heating load based on facade color.
(Yuxuan et al. 2020) conducted a study in which ther-
mochromic coatings of five distinct colors were made and
their optical characteristics tested. A two-story office build-
ing model was created, and a simulation was run to assess
the energy performance of thermochromic coatings via a
Fig. 18  Sustainable architecture energy efficient buildings (Napier
three-step control mechanism based on their dynamic color-
2015)
changing capabilities. The study found that utilizing ther-
mochromic coatings in an office building can lower annual
energy usage by 4.28–5.02 kWh/m2 compared to the com- recently built up as a combined living and office space e.g.,
mon coating and 0.73–1.47 kWh/m2 compared to the cool the Solar Ace unit on the NEST infrastructure in Dübendorf
coating. The study demonstrates that building coatings, as (Switzerland) as shown in Fig. 15. The study estimated the
a passive solar energy technology, can drastically reduce embodied energy of the unit at 29 kWh/m2 year. Overall, the
building energy consumption depending on location and unit is energy-positive, when considering the space heat-
season. Amani and Soroush (2021) examined the feasibil- ing, domestic hot water, and electric appliances demand, a
ity and design of (ZEBs) in cold and semi-arid climates. In remarkable achievement for a combined office/living space.
his numerical and simulation study, he shows how energy Martínez-Molina et al. (2016) analyzed how the integra-
consumption can be diminished using passive solar archi- tion of passive and sustainable solar heating techniques,
tecture systems and techniques. The simulation results show affects thermal behavior and how to improve the energy effi-
a 30% decrease in annual energy consumption of the case ciency and thermal comfort of historic buildings. The study
study residential building in the northeast of Iran with a highlights the importance of retrofitting buildings to current
floor area of 100 ­m2 and four inhabitants. Florio et al. (2022) energy efficiency and thermal comfort standards to improve
carried out numerical and experimental studies to check the sustainability and energy performance. It also provides a
opportunity of closing the gap between the design phase framework to improve the energy efficiency and thermal
and operation, toward an effective realization of a ZEB. comfort of historic buildings while preserving their cultural
The approach was implemented on a zero-energy building, and historic significance based on different building types
 B. Senyonyi et al.

used as case studies, which can be useful for future research respectively, improving indoor thermal comfort levels. The
in this area. Gondal et al. (2019) established that certain study outcomes can be useful for designing energy-efficient
passive measures in the design features of the building enve- buildings in developing countries where viable building
lope can help reduce overall energy consumption without techniques are insufficient to achieve zero-energy buildings.
compromising occupants’ comfort level. It demonstrates that The holistic design approach study for residential net-
solar energies and appropriate building parameters such as zero energy buildings (NZEBs) carried out by (Lan et al.
roof/wall thickness, window/wall ratio, and optimum sizing 2019) optimized daylighting, natural cooling, energy effi-
of windows can reduce energy consumption by up to 33%. A ciency, and life cycle cost (LCC) of residential nearly ZEBs
study by Nafeaa et al. (2020) showed that passive techniques (NZEBs). The optimization was performed in two phases:
such as adding thermal insulation to exterior walls, adding optimizing daylighting and natural cooling in the first phase,
external shading, using lighting fixtures with high efficacy, and energy efficiency and LCC in the second phase. The
and using window glazing with high thermal and radiation approach was applied to the design of residential NZEBs in
characteristics can significantly reduce cooling and heating a tropical country, Singapore, and the potential of building
demands and total electricity consumption and thus arriving residential NZEBs in Singapore was evaluated with two typ-
to ZEBs. The results showed that the external wall insulation ical residential building types: landed houses and apartment
decreased cooling and heating demands by 7% and 60%, buildings. The findings and derived insights from the case
respectively, adding shading with a projection factor of 0.9 study provided a framework and modeled cases for design
for all external windows to block direct sunlight from enter- insights, parametric design, and trade-off analysis toward
ing the building through windows the cooling demands by sustainable, comfortable, and energy-efficient built struc-
13%. Double glazing with a gap in between reduced heat tures. A study by Zinzi et al. (2016) analyzed the potential of
transfer. This decreases the cooling and heating demands by retrofit actions with NZEB targets in existing school build-
14% and 30%, respectively. Finally, the study combined all ings, focusing on the impact of such measures on indoor
the passive techniques to find the optimized case with the environmental quality (IEQ). The study applied passive tech-
lowest energy needs and the results indicate that the overall niques, namely external solar protection devices and night
reduction in consumption in cooling demand, total electric- ventilative cooling. To assess their mitigation potential,
ity, and heating demand was 34%, 17%, and 11%, respec- the study showed that the combination of the two solutions
tively (Fig. 16). restored the pre-retrofit performance and the project resulted
In his study, William et al. (2021) proposed a multi- in a factor 4 reduction in space heating, final and primary
approach criterion for achieving energy-efficient buildings energy, and achieved electricity neutrality using renewable
that balance energy conservation and human comfort. The energy sources.
study evaluated the energy efficiency and thermal comfort Moghaddaszadeh et al. (2019) proposed two passive
achieved by integrating retrofitting strategies in an insti- methods to improve the efficiency of heat exchangers used in
tutional building in three different ASHRAE hot climate solar collectors and photovoltaic thermal systems in ZEBs.
zones represented by three cities in Egypt (Aswan, Cairo, The study revealed the potential of the suggested techniques
and Alexandria). The study outcomes suggested that the to enhance various thermal systems including solar collec-
implementation of reflective paint solutions could achieve tors. The numerical and experimental study by El-Awady
the highest percentages of whole-building energy savings et al. (2019) introduced an integrated zero-waste system
with 21%, 19%, and 17% for Aswan, Cairo, and Alexandria, for the total recycling of industrial wastewater from a paper

Fig. 19  Schematic view of flat

plate solar air heater (Ghritlahre
et al. 2022)
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

mill process using a hybrid chemical treatment process with and calculating the building net energy demand, which is
a solar dryer as a clean dewatering technology. An effec- reduced to 90% compared to the base-case.
tive design of a solar dryer was used to obtain dry sludge Kumar et al. (2017) in a numerical and experimental
cake and to collect highly purified water to be recycled in study designed, manufactured, and tested the vertical solar
industrial processes. Solar energy showed good potential chimney through the selection of different suction openings
in drying the sludge paper at a competitive cost and clean for the entry of air, including right, left, front, back, both
environment. It was found that each square meter of drying right and left, and both front and back sides to assess the
surface area could dry 9 kg of wetted sludge paper per day. amount of energy saved and thermal comfort toward achiev-
The presented trapezoidal shape solar dryer could dry daily ing a zero-energy building. Prakash (2017) highlighted the
up to 540 kg of wetted sludge paper. Based on the required importance of green building concepts, techniques, and
sludge paper water demand, a large-scale solar dryer can be advancements in passive cooling of buildings through the
sized accordingly thus achieving a zero-energy industry with heat dissipation approach, which involves reducing the heat
competitive cost and a clean environment. generated from various sources by natural ventilation and
Mytafides et al. (2017) carried out a simulation study natural cooling.
that investigated the feasibility of using sustainable energy- Some of the reviewed techniques include the use of reflec-
saving solutions to achieve minimal energy consumption in tive paints and roof insulation layer among others, which are
an educational building in a Mediterranean climate while identified as the best method for controlling indoor tempera-
maintaining desired internal comfort conditions to achieve ture effectively. Sustainable materials like date palms, pecan,
a zero -energy building. The outcomes of the study showed
that using passive heating and cooling techniques can reduce
energy consumption in educational buildings for sustainabil-
ity and economic development while improving the interior
comfort conditions of the university and school buildings to
enhance educational activities. Khan et al. (2017) in their
study, designed using ECOTECT software a zero-energy
sports gymnasium building shown in Fig. 17 in Calolzio-
corte, Italy using various sustainability techniques in an
integrated design project approach. This was carried out
by choosing sustainable materials for walls, the floor, the
roof, and windows to reduce the total energy demand of
the building by 38% compared to the base-case. Improv-
ing the air infiltration rate through the building envelope
and noting a 63% reduction in the total energy demand of
the building compared to the base-case. Conducting a solar
access analysis to understand the on-site energy production
Fig. 21  Off-grid BIPV (Alkhalidi 2018)

Fig. 20  Grid-connected BIPV

(Quansah et al. 2016)
 B. Senyonyi et al.

sunflower cake, reeds, hemp, and residue from sugarcane Sebald and Vered (1987) in their study discussed the
are identified as the best materials for thermal insulation. design and control trade-offs for rock bins in passively solar-
Napier (2015) evaluates buildings’ performance as part of a heated houses with Trombe walls, direct gain, and high solar
design methodology for new projects. The study suggested fractions. They demonstrated that rock bins can be used to
as indicated in Fig. 18 that architectural and sustainable reduce early morning auxiliary energy consumption peak
strategy must go hand in hand in the design of the facades in passive houses with night setback thermostats residences
of buildings, and that both passive and active design think- during winter, which can help reduce energy costs and
ing should inform this process. It also suggests that each part improve energy efficiency. Vassiliades et al. (2019) is their
of the facade can contribute to daylight, solar control, energy work, proposed a roadmap to simplify the interdisciplinary
generation, insulation, and/or thermal buffering according design process for integrating active solar energy systems
to its exposure to sunlight and daylight over the daily and into buildings. The roadmap consists of five design steps
seasonal cycles on a three-dimensional grid. that lead to the creation of a comprehensive design tool for
Baglivo et al. (2014b) in a literature review, conducted a sitting buildings to optimize the integration of solar systems.
multi-objective analysis to obtain high energetic efficiency In his study, Bock (2019) presented a new active building
external walls for zero energy buildings (ZEBs) in the Medi- envelope system that harvests solar energy through the steel
terranean climate, through the combination of various mate- skin of the façade of the building. The BASSE system is a
rials considering factors such as steady thermal transmit- modular design that enables full integration into the building
tance, periodic thermal transmittance, decrement factor, time envelope of both newly constructed and refurbished build-
shift, areal heat capacity, thermal admittance, surface mass, ings. The experimental results showed that the coefficient
and thickness in the analysis. The results showed that the of performance (COP) of the heat pump is between 4.1 to
superficial mass of the external wall is important for obtain- 4.6, and simulation results showed that a 35 BASSE panel
ing the best performance in warm climates. Moreover, high installation on residential buildings subjected to temperate
performance in the summertime can also be achieved with climate is Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB).
lighter and thinner walls.
A simulation study by Bucking et al. (2013) proposed a Active techniques
hybrid evolutionary algorithm coupled with Building Per-
formance Simulation (BPS) to estimate and reduce building This type of technique requires mechanical and electrical
energy consumption at the design stage. The algorithm used equipment such as pumps and fans to collect, store, and
information gained during previous simulations to expedite distribute the sun’s energy (Lin 2021). Photovoltaic tech-
and improve algorithm convergence using targeted determin- nology and solar thermal technology are the two major cat-
istic searches. It was tested on a case study building intended egories under which active solar technologies can be placed
to be converted to a ZEB. Results showed that it could be (Herez et al. 2020). Solar thermal technology converts solar
used to identify cost-effective trade-offs between passive energy to thermal energy for home and commercial purposes
solar design and renewable energy generation. including heating and cooling, among others, in contrast to

Fig. 22  Schematic diagram

of the solar hybrid pilot plant
including the main components
in Herrando et al. study (Her-
rando et al. 2023)
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Fig. 23  Outdoor hybrid solar

air-conditioner in Al-Yasiri et al.
(2022) study

photovoltaic technology, which transforms sunlight into Solar air heaters Solar air heating as illustrated in Fig. 19
electrical energy. While concentrated solar power technolo- is a passive solar technique that is applied in zero-energy
gies are utilized to produce electricity, concentrated solar buildings. This technique uses solar energy to heat the air
thermal technologies are employed to address heating needs in a building, reducing the need for artificial heating (Ghrit-
at the industrial level (Pelay et al. 2017). According to sev- lahre et al. 2022). The collectors can be installed on roofs,
eral recent studies (Lau et al. 2021), active solar energy uti- walls, or within the building’s structure itself, and can be
lization in buildings principally contributes to the production integrated with the building’s ventilation system to provide
of electricity via photovoltaics. The electricity produced by heat where it is most needed (Jin et al. 2020). Building-inte-
photovoltaics could also be utilized to ventilate, light, and grated solar thermal systems (BIST), which are active solar
cool building spaces. The main active techniques in ZEB air heating systems, are typically used for space heating.
mainly include solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies
as discussed in the subsequent sections. Solar water heaters Solar water heaters can be an inte-
gral part of zero-energy building design, utilizing the sun’s
Solar thermal technology energy to heat water for domestic use (Kalogirou 2009).
Unlike passive techniques, solar water heaters use pumps
This is a subset of active techniques that primarily consists and controls to circulate water or heat-transfer fluid in the
of solar collectors like solar air heaters, vacuum, and evacu- system, the passive systems rely on natural convection to
ated tube collectors that absorb solar radiation and convert circulate water (Tian and Zhao 2013; Koibakova et al.
it to heat energy that is then transferred to the building as 2021). Chilly water is extracted by the pump in the direct
balmy air or solar water heaters that produce hot water using water heating system, and supplied to the solar collectors,
fans or pumps (Aly et al. 2023). where it is heated by the sun’s energy before being returned
to the storage tank. When there is a need for hot water in
the building, the storage tank will be used. It is important to

Fig. 24  Active pipe-embedded building envelope system and the schematic diagram in Shen et al. (2022)
 B. Senyonyi et al.

note that the energy from the sun is absorbed by antifreeze Active techniques in ZEB
or water in the collector loops in an indirect water heating
system. (Rosas-Flores et al. 2016) showed that solar water This section is divided into expérimental and theoretical
heating could play a substantial role in solving energy prob- studies of active solar techniques applied for zero energy
lems in Mexico. buildings.

Photovoltaic technology Experimental studies A study by (Luo et al. 2020) intro-

duced a new idea of double zero, which involves the combi-
This involves using semiconductor cells to convert short- nation of grid-connected PV, TE, battery, and building enve-
wave solar irradiance into electricity without any moving lope structure (PVTEB) to achieve zero energy in buildings.
parts (Gad et al. 2022). Globally, photovoltaics is invariably The suggested system model was developed using a com-
recognized as the primary driver of sustainability among bination of analytical and numerical approaches and tested
renewables, potentially transitioning into a 100% clean against experimental data in both summer and winter situa-
energy scenario (Kumar Sahu 2015). The versatility, wide tions. The results revealed that the system can save 72–92%
availability, and low operating and maintenance costs of PV energy in the cold region, 88–100% in the mixed zone,
technology have all proven to be quite appealing (Soliman and completely 100% in the cooling dominant zone when
and Hassan 2019). Due to its capacity to offer sustainable compared to a large wall as a reference. (Elnaggar 2023)
and clean energy, PV technology has drawn a lot of inter- indicated that for Gaza and Palestine, using solar air heat-
est from the building sector. This is because it can solve ers and solar water heaters could save up to $3275.7 and
the increasing energy demand and environmental degrada- $3461.3 of energy costs annually and reduce 16,378.57 and
tion brought on by using fossil fuels. The term "Building 17,306.6 kg/ year of C ­ O2 emissions, respectively.
Integrated Photovoltaics" (BIPV) refers to the notable appli- Khoury et al. (2015)’s study developed a thorough siz-
cations of PV technology in the building sector, including ing approach for a PV-battery backup system to support an
electricity production and integration as a building material inconsistent grid. A high load profile of 6 kW and 31 kWh/
(Martín-Chivelet et al. 2022). In a BIPV system, PV mod- day was examined. The simulations were run in both winter
ules are integrated into the building skin or envelope as an and summer settings, with various realistic and crucial limi-
integral element of the building construction. tations. Real weather data, load usage, and blackout sched-
BIPV systems can be grid-connected or standalone and ules were used under two separate conditions: very harsh
are typically summarized as seen in Figs. 20 and 21, respec- and moderate. The study demonstrated that the proposed
tively. It is worth mentioning that sometimes back up power system has numerous advantages that stimulate its use in
supplies like generators are added to standalone BIPVs. countries experiencing an energy crisis and can be more
advantageous than diesel generators as a backup system.
Mirzaei et al. (2014) developed a novel setup consisting
of a zero-energy building model with a mock BIPV panel
plus a solar simulator placed inside an atmospheric wind
tunnel to understand the transport mechanisms above and
below the panels. They provided insights into reducing the
cost of electricity generated by BIPV systems by enhanc-
ing their lifetime against degradation caused by moisture
ingress and thermal stresses. Herrando et al. (2023) as
shown in Fig. 22. presented a validation study of a solar
hybrid pilot plant based on photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T)
collectors integrated with a reversible heat pump (rev-HP)
for energy provision in non-residential buildings. The pilot
plant provides space heating, cooling, domestic hot water
(DHW), and electricity to an industrial building in Zaragoza,
Spain. The results showed that the integration of the ther-
mal and electrical generation of the PV-T collectors with a
high-performance rev-HP allows the solar PV-T system to
be self-sufficient to satisfy the building energy demand. The
study concludes that the proposed system can be a promising
Fig. 25  Proposed PV/diesel generator/battery Renewable Energy Sys- solution for non-residential building energy demand.
tem (Sari et al. 2022)
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Li et al. (2022) in their study presented a novel design for to zero, and hence increase the energetic efficiency of the
a concentrated solar membrane-distillation system for water building.
purification in a building-integrated design for a lower-
energy alternative. The system utilized a 3D-printed com- Theoretical studies Another study by Akter et al. (2017)
pound parabolic concentrator for optical enhancement and includes a comprehensive economic evaluation of load and
has a thermal efficiency of around 55–60% at a 60–90 °C energy profiles under different tariff structures while adjust-
operating temperature range required for the membrane-dis- ing the sizes of solar PV units and BESSs to achieve zero
tillation process. The design demonstrated a viable decen- energy status in buildings. The study’s findings revealed that
tralized water treatment/hot-water system that can allevi- as the size of solar PV units and BESSs increased, so did
ate water scarcity in arid areas. The results revealed that their investment and replacement costs. Furthermore, while
the system had a levelized cost of heat of 0.015 USD/kWh larger PV units and BESS options result in greater savings
and the payback period of the designed system is about 2 on electricity bills, smaller options have shorter payback
years. Al-Yasiri et al. (2022) in their study (Fig. 23) exam- periods. Additionally, when only solar PV units are utilized,
ined the solar-powered cooling and air-conditioning systems the levelized cost of energy is lower, however, it rises when
for building applications. The study discussed the main both solar PV units and BESSs are deployed. (Riquelme
SCACSs, driven by solar thermal energy, such as absorp- et al. 2023) used a building simulation program approach to
tion, adsorption, and solid desiccant systems. A compari- integrate photovoltaic glazing systems composed of semi-
son among solar thermal SCACSs is performed, considering transparent organic photovoltaic elements (OPV) which can
several technical, operational, economic, and environmental be used to assess photovoltaic energy generation through
indicators. Alshibil et al. (2023) in their study analyzed the glazing systems. A reduction of 9% of the building energy
sustainability contribution of hybrid solar collectors toward consumption was achieved.
net-zero energy buildings. The study focuses on a distinctive Sari et al. (2022) in Fig. 25 conducted a multi-objective
design of the hybrid solar collector that utilizes a combina- study using the coyote optimization algorithm to suggest
tion of water and air simultaneously as a working fluid. The an optimum hybrid PV/diesel generator/battery Renewable
experimental results revealed that the waste heat generated Energy System (HRES) to fulfill the energy needs of Hotan
by the combi-PV/T module was lowered by 77.6%, and the county in the Taklamakan Desert. The results reveal that
average solar cell surface temperature of the PV module the diesel generators reduce the system’s annual cost from
decreased by 30.6%. The combination of hybrid solar PV/T 8347.2 to 9318.4 $, an increase of approximately 10.42%
systems has an efficient sustainability contribution and the due to increased fuel usage. The ­CO2 emissions savings
potential to subsidize sustainable building construction increased from 2531.2 to 13,257 kg/yr, while the cost of
toward ZEBs. power decreased from 0.39 to 0.24 $/kWh, demonstrating
Shen et al. (2022) proposed an active pipe-embedded the advantages of diesel generators and battery systems in
building envelope system to redistribute heat between the ensuring energy supply for stand-alone renewable energy
north and south rooms of a building to reduce heating load systems.
(Fig. 24). The study validated a mathematical model of the Li et al. (2019) investigated the technological and eco-
system against experimental data and compared the heating nomic viability of several hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/diesel/
load reduction of the system with a conventional wall under battery power systems for housing developments on the
typical weather conditions in five building climate zones in outskirts of Harbin, China. The proposed systems’ optimi-
China. The results showed that the proposed system could zation, economic, power output, emissions, and sensitivity
reduce heating load by about 12.8% during the heating sea- assessments are all carried out using the Hybrid Optimiza-
son for scorching summer and chilly winter climates. The tion Model for Electric Renewables software. According to
study can guide a better design and control of low energy the findings, the most cost-effective system consisted of a
buildings in further research and practice. 500 kW PV array, two diesel generators with a rated power
Cuadros et al. (2007) in a numerical, simulation, and of 1250 kW, 600 batteries, and a 500 kW converter, while
experimental study presented a simple and practical pro- the diesel generator-only system was the least economical.
cedure to size active solar heating schemes for low-energy The study indicated that hybrid PV/diesel/battery systems
building design. They indicated that the procedure can be are a good alternative energy plan for Harbin housing estates
used to estimate climate variables, compare the efficiencies as a replacement for diesel-powered generators, assisting in
of solar heat collectors, and size installations for domestic achieving zero energy status in far from the grid and remote
hot water, radiant flooring, or heating of buildings. Moreo- cities. Tripathy et al. (2016) discussed the variety of BIPV
ver, the use of solar heating can reduce the conventional products that can be used as different components of build-
energy consumption of a building, even bringing it close ings such as flat roofs, pitch roofs, curved roofs, facades, and
skylights to achieve a zero-energy building. In his study, he
 B. Senyonyi et al.

Fig. 26  Schematic diagram of

the studied model of Acar et al.
(2023)

highlighted the importance of proper orientation of BIPV study investigated the barriers to the application of PV in
modules, suitable distance between buildings, avoidance of buildings under four major categories: sociotechnical, eco-
shadow effects, and suitable architectural considerations for nomic, policy, and management. It employs both qualitative
a successful BIPV project. and quantitative approaches to determine the perspective of
Liu et al. (2021) reviewed the feasibility and applicabil- building industry professionals around these barriers. The
ity of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems in results revealed that lack of public awareness is the most
regions with high solar irradiance. The study investigated significant factor that hampers the application of PV, while
the application advantages of the BIPV system in terms of the root cause for poor public awareness is subsidized tariffs.
energy supply and aesthetic value of buildings. The paper The study provided policy recommendations to overcome
also evaluates the energy efficiency, environmental benefit, the identified barriers and to promote the application of PV
and economic performance of the BIPV system with differ- in the building sector of the country. Li et al. (2020) in their
ent PV technologies. Ghaleb and Asif (2022) investigated the study provided a comprehensive review of building inte-
using of commercial buildings’ roofs for solar PV, focusing grated solar concentrating systems. The study discussed the
on four types of buildings—shopping malls, office buildings, several types, applications, and structures of these systems
hotels, and hospitals. The study identifies 16 diverse types emphasizing the importance of architectural integration of
of physical hurdles that can restrict the application of PV, thermal collectors, and set criteria for building integrated
classified under four main categories: architectural/struc- thermal systems. It also presents prospects, directions,
tural, services, miscellaneous, and associate restrictions. and policies around the world toward building integrated
The roof utilization factors for the studied buildings were solar concentrating systems toward achieving zero energy
calculated for five different orientations. They indicated that buildings. Kim and Junghans (2023) investigated the eco-
the utilization factor for the building roofs is found to range nomic feasibility of achieving net-zero emission buildings
between 0.45 and 0.52. In another study, Ghaleb et al. (2023) (NZEBs) in the USA residential sector. The study analyses
discussed the prospects and barriers of applying solar photo- the payback periods of multiple NZEB scenarios by consid-
voltaic (PV) in the building sector of the Gulf Cooperation ering the potential future changes in technology and policy
Council (GCC) countries, which planned to diversify their required to meet the net-zero emission target by 2050. The
energy mix through the exploitation of solar energy. The results showed that improving the PV energy conversion rate
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Table 3  Comparison of the active and passive solar energy techniques

Active technique Passive technique

Uses external source of energy Doesn’t involve mechanical devices and uses the conventional energy
resources
Uses expensive external energy equipment Generally cheaper than the active technique
Requires lots of maintenance Requires low maintenance
Its efficiency is high and depends on the type of equipment Its efficiency is low
Works on mechanical system Uses phenomena that happens naturally
Complex, higher cost, and operates depending on the equipment Operates independently of motors or ctuators—quick and simple to set up—
Doesn’t depend much on the weather conditions as the passive minimal maintenance cost
technique a high level of weather dependency
–low precision
Lots of moving parts and some failures of the system can happen Low moving parts and works continuously depending on the availability of
the natural resources
Allowing control and efficient distribution of energy Less control in gathering and distribution of energy

is much more effective in reducing the payback period of the average parameter method, and the choice of auxiliary
NZEBs compared to raising the ­CO2 equivalent price of the heat source depends on the region’s solar energy resources
emission trading scheme. The research framework served as and climate conditions. By combining a heat pump system
an economic guideline for implementing NZEBs in the U.S. with two renewable energy sources: solar and geothermal
residential sector by clarifying the technological and institu- technologies.
tional challenges that should be addressed to economically The study by Wu et al. (2022) proposed an integrated
meet the net-zero emission target by 2050. Liu et al. (2022) design of solar photovoltaic power generation technology
carried out an optimization study of solar heating systems and building construction based on the Internet of Things.
for office buildings in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China The aim was to solve the problems of low integration, low
based on life cycle cost. The study established an optimiza- energy efficiency, low reliability, high power consumption,
tion model of SHS capacity matching with minimum LCC as and lack of effective monitoring measures for solar energy
the objective function and collector area, tank volume, and devices in buildings. The proposed comprehensive auxil-
auxiliary heat source power as decision variables. The study iary platform based on the Internet of Things and ZigBee
divided the plateau into five typical regions and optimized wireless sensor network can study distributed solar energy
the system LCC for each region. The results showed that the devices and realize the joint design of solar energy devices
intermittent heating load method is more cost-effective than and buildings. This approach is of great significance to the

Fig. 27  Descriptive diagram of

the hybridPV/T solar system
coupled with a solar still in
Maalouf study (2016)
 B. Senyonyi et al.

development of the photovoltaic construction industry. Pir- highlighted the benefits of integrating photovoltaic-thermal
mohamadi et al. (2021) carried out an innovative energy collectors as evaporators of the heat pump in direct-expan-
optimization algorithm for an existing office building to sion systems. They revealed that BOS impact ranges from
decrease energy usage and increase energy efficiency. An 6 to 181 kg ­CO2 eq/m2 and 55 to 1900 MJprim/m2 of PV
efficient solar thermal system was used to reduce building module.
­CO2 emissions, and the feasibility of transforming the build- Mahaya et al. (2022) investigated the solar access assess-
ing into zero energy building was analyzed. The optimiza- ment in semi-arid urban context of Batna city, Algeria, and
tion was done using accurate data and DesignBuilder simu- its relationship with urban morphology. The study used a
lation software, and the feasibility analysis was performed Grasshopper-based automated morphology generation and
using TRNSYS software. The results indicated a significant simulation system to evaluate solar access. The study found
reduction in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emis- that roofs received three times more annual solar irradiation
sions, and the solar thermal system had financial merits, than facades and that active solar collectors are the most
saving about $318 annually. Anctil et al. (2020) focused on effective solar technology in the studied context. The results
the evaluation of the potential energy savings and electric- of this study could not be generalized to various housing pat-
ity production associated with the use of highly transpar- terns or typologies. Yang et al. (2014) discussed the appli-
ent organic photovoltaics (TPV) that can be employed for cation of solar technologies in building energy efficiency,
window applications in building-integrated photovoltaics particularly in solar-powered residential buildings (SPRBs).
(BIPV) in the US. In this study, the net energy benefit (NEB) The study introduced the characteristics and distribution of
and payback time of using TPVs in buildings were calcu- solar energy resources in China and summarized three types
lated considering factors such as changes in electricity and of solar energy utilization: light-gathering utilization, solar
natural gas consumption, TPV degradation, and changing energy photo-thermal utilization, and photovoltaic utiliza-
grid efficiency. The study also provided a comprehensive tion. Active SPRBs were analyzed with the latter being more
literature review of organic photovoltaic life cycle assess- intelligent due to their flexibility and controllability. To real-
ment studies that have been published since 2009. Acar et al. ize the harmony between solar technologies and building
(2023) as illustrated in Fig. 26 proposed a stand-alone hybrid appearance, the study proposed building integrated solar
solar-hydrogen energy system for a zero-energy building. energy (BISE) design in the consideration of technology and
The system consists of PV panels, an electrolyzer, and a fuel aesthetics. Bougiatioti and Michael (2015) investigated the
cell, with the selection of components based on actual solar possibility of integrating active solar systems on the shells of
and weather data at the site. The consumption profile at the existing buildings in traditional settlements and urban cent-
house was based on actual data, and the study considered ers in Greece and Cyprus. The study not only highlighted the
a remote house away from the national power grid lines in benefits of this integration in terms of energy conservation,
Afyon city, Turkey. The study provided technical details on environmental protection, and financial benefits but also
the design and performance analysis of the proposed solar discussed the restrictions and difficulties caused by the par-
hydrogen hybrid energy system. The outcomes indicate that ticularities of the contemporary urban fabric and traditional
each component size in this solar hydrogen hybrid system settlements. Ma and Yuan (2023)focused on the optimization
in terms of power depends on each other component size to of hybrid renewable energy systems for ZEBs. The study
meet the whole system efficiency requirement. compared two main energy storage systems, PV/battery, and
Lamnatou and Chemisana (2023) examined the life-cycle off-grid PV/hydrogen, to produce steady output to the grid at
assessment of the Balance of System (BOS) of Photovoltaics the lowest total annual cost. A particle swarm optimization
(PVs) and highlighted the advantages of Organic Photovolta- (PSO) method was used to optimally design a hybrid PV/
ics (OPVs). In this work, they emphasized the importance battery/hydrogen system. The research found that the PV/
of lightweight BOS systems for buildings and greenhouses. battery system in remote areas becomes more economical
The study presented critical factors for OPV greenhouses than the off-grid PV/hydrogen system as reliability decreases
and PV challenges. The paper also included a case study and interest rate increases.
based on different electricity mixes. Miglioli et al. (2023) Tonkoski and Lopes (2011) investigated in the literature
discussed the integration of photovoltaic-thermal collectors review different approaches for sizing and controlling the PV
and heat pumps to cover thermal energy needs in buildings. power generated by 12 net-zero energy houses equipped with
The combination of these technologies in a PVT-SAHP sys- large rooftop PV systems in a typical 240 V/ 75 kVA Cana-
tem allowed for a high fraction of building thermal needs dian suburban radial distribution feeder. Assessing the per-
to be covered by renewable energy sources. The study also formance of the different approaches in terms of overvoltage
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

occurrence, sharing of the burden for overvoltage preven- conditioning, heating, and household appliances to achieve
tion per house, and total energy yield of the residential PV a zero-energy building (Fig. 27).
feeder. They showed that buildings located downstream on Besheer and El-Hamidi (2012) discussed a study com-
the feeder require more energy than the others closer to a missioned by the European Insulation Manufacturers
transformer. Li et al. (2023) reviewed the usage of thermal Association, which revealed that by applying a satisfac-
energy storage units in solar water heaters. Various ther- tory level of thermal insulation to the buildings in Europe,
mal energy storage materials have been utilized in various the target of the Kyoto Protocol could be easily achieved.
kinds of solar heaters to stabilize their performance, improve The study discussed general and initial design procedures
their reliability, and avoid issues related to variations in solar and measures for designing a moderate-sized residen-
radiation. The study concluded that several factors such as tial Saudi villa using integrated green building concepts
the operation condition and characteristics of the storage and strategies such as orientation, house form, windows
unit are effective on the function of the systems combined shape, utilization of passive solar features, high levels
with the thermal storage component. The usage of storage of efficient insulation, taking advantage of natural cool-
units can boost both energy and exergy efficiencies and the ing/heating and ventilation, solar power, reducing water
performance of the systems was improvable by employ- use, and using high-efficiency lighting and appliances to
ing some ideas, such as the application of nanotechnology achieve 50% reduction of consumption in the villa. (Luo
in storage materials. A summary of the comparison of the 2023) in his study integrated passive and active retrofit-
passive and active solar energy techniques is illustrated in ting approaches toward minimum whole-life carbon foot-
Table 3. Moreover, a summary of the presented works con- print emissions in existing office buildings. The approach
cerning the passive and active energy techniques for ZEB are involves two inter-related design optimization and operat-
presented in Tables 6 and 7, respectively on Appendix. The ing optimization processes to identify retrofitting options
tables outline the work objective, main outcomes, keywords, that achieve optimal economic, energy, and environmental
and building type. performance. The proposed approach can reduce whole-
life energy consumption and carbon emissions by up to
Hybrid passive and active techniques 34.37% and 51.10%, respectively, compared to state-of-
the-art retrofitting strategies. This approach can provide
To maximize solar energy usage, some studies utilized both building owners, energy engineers, and decision-makers
passive and active solar techniques (hybrid techniques) to with insightful building retrofitting solutions to tackle the
achieve zero-energy building. For example, Chel and Kau- energy crisis and climate change problems.
shik (2018) presented a framework for designing energy- Ju (2014) discussed the design of the Central Control
efficient buildings that can significantly reduce energy con- Building of the PV demonstration area in Turpan, Xinji-
sumption and costs. It emphasized the use of energy-efficient ang, China, which is in a harsh climate area. The building
equipment in buildings, which can reduce operational energy integrates active and passive solar technology to with-
requirements and costs. The study suggested the integration stand extreme climate conditions and make full use of
of passive and active techniques such as solar photovoltaic solar energy resources. The design includes features such
electrification and hot water heating systems, daylighting, as shading, ventilation, insulation, and a solar ventilation
and Trombe wall which can further reduce energy consump- system. The paper highlighted the importance of combin-
tion and costs leading to a ZEB. Harkouss et al. (2019) in ing solar systems with architecture and prioritizing the
a simulation and numerical study presented a methodology application of the passive solar effect. Azimi Fereidani
that can be used as a useful tool to enhance the design of et al. (2021) reviewed the energy implications of pas-
Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) and facilitate decision- sive building design and active measures under climate
making in the early phases of building design. The meth- change in the Middle East. Buildings in the Middle East
odology can help architects and engineers to identify the consumed fossil fuel-based energy, contributing to green-
most cost-effective passive strategies and renewable energy house gas emissions and increasing cooling demand in
systems that should be implemented to achieve a NZE- countries with an energy grid dependent on oil and natural
design for a typical residential building located in various gas. The study analyzed different passive and active design
climatic zones. The findings of this paper can be used to measures, gathered mitigation and adaptation strategies,
design NZEBs that are more energy-efficient, cost-effective, and identified the main barriers. It suggested that there is
and environmentally friendly. Maalouf et al. (2016) carried enormous potential in using passive design, efficient air
out numerical and simulation work to study the possibility conditioning systems, and integrating renewable energy
of using a hybrid solar PV/T water collector for supplying a in buildings. Yu et al. (2019) analyzed the passive and
house with thermal energy for domestic hot water and a solar active design strategies used in Solar Decathlon Europe in
still with preheated brine and with electricity for lighting, air Madrid to optimize a zero-energy solar house. The study
 B. Senyonyi et al.

Fig. 28  Proposed green hydrogen production plant(Hai et al. 2023)

not only identified 7 key decisions and 24 strategies for Environmental impact
an optimized zero-energy solar house but also reviewed
33 projects from the Solar Decathlon Europe competi- The aim of sustainable architecture and green building
tions and correlated the strategies with their performance is to utilize sources more efficiently and lessen a build-
results. The research proposes an empirical model for an ing’s undesirable effect on the environment. ZEB must
optimized zero-energy solar house in Mediterranean cli- accomplish one key aim of exporting as greatly renew-
mate conditions. The study provided 5 strategies (shading, able energy resources as it utilizes throughout the year;
advanced technologies, shape coefficient, insulation core decreasing greenhouse emissions. Hence, in achieving
material, modulus) significantly correlated to the contest the ZEB, the environmental impact must be considered.
of architecture performance, 5strategies (better thermal Nematchoua et al. (2022) concentrated their research on
mass, bigger aspect ratio, better buffer, lower insulation evaluating, analyzing, and proposing several possibili-
u-value, smaller shape coefficient, ventilating, and air ties for designing residential buildings with nearly zero
conditioning energy demand, lower annual heating,) play energy, low emissions, and low costs around the world.
important roles in the contest of comfort condition perfor- The results showed that using a dual-service air-to-water
mance, and 7 strategies (shape coefficient, capacity, PV heat pump allows for a significant reduction in green-
component, southward tilt angle, modulus dominant factor, house gas (GHG) emissions, with indicators decreasing by
modulus, southward window-wall ratio,) correlated signifi- approximately 9%. It was estimated that using heat pumps
cantly to contest of electrical energy balance performance. reduces the cost of 9 environmental impacts by 8.7% to
13.1% over an 80-year period when compared to the ini-
tial cost. Tumminia et al. (2020) suggested a design strat-
egy that makes use of storage devices like fuel cells and
batteries to quantify the environmental effect and power
grid interaction. The findings demonstrated that the stor-
age system, when combined with an appropriately sized
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Fig. 29  Casual Loop Diagram of ZEB consumption and carbon emissions (Ke et al. 2024)

Fig. 30  Waste upcycling-

driven zero energy building
(Yoon and Lee 2024)
 B. Senyonyi et al.

on-site generation system, could enhance the environmen- emissions for a typical Canadian net-zero energy building.
tal advantages of renewable energy technologies, resulting Liu et al. (2023) offered a framework for the design, man-
in GHG emissions as low as 0.92 × ­103 kg ­CO2 eq/year, or agement, and optimization of renewable energy systems
a 50.4% decrease from the base case. Furthermore, if the with the goal of creating net-zero energy buildings that are
system is connected to a fuel cell system, the fuel cell’s connected to electric cars and battery storage. Based on
­CO2 emissions exceed those of the base scenario. Hoxha the load coverage (+ 16.22%), grid flexibility performance
and Jusselme (2017) conducted a study to examine the (− 58.48%), annual electricity bill (− 27.86%), decarboni-
environmental impact of furniture and appliances used in zation benefits (− 34 times), and vehicle degradation, the
zero-energy buildings. According to the findings, furni- optimal design net-zero energy building achieved good
ture accounts for around 10% of the total building impact, techno-economic-environmental feasibility, according to
whereas appliances account for 25%. The study indicated the results.
that, because embodied impacts have the highest value, the Xie and Gou (2024) screened 100 buildings with four
procedure for labeling appliances’ energy efficiency should different types of electric vehicle charging stations to
include a life-cycle perspective, rather than only a usage evaluate the environmental impact of ZEBs. According to
perspective, as is now the case. In their research, (Cao the results, the GP objective is set at 20%, while the NZE
2016) employed a hydrogen vehicle (HV) that was inte- goal is attained between 3 and 12%. The buildings’ form
grated using suitable control systems into a zero energy factor and the four clusters’ goal completion rates show
building. The energy and environmental effect, energy how the four different parking lot kinds have improved.
matching, and grid interactions were all analyzed. The With an average payback period of 0.71, 1.87, 2.21, 2.47,
findings indicate that, for the building with the HV, the and 2.22 years, respectively, the average reduction in GHG
EV, and no vehicle (NV), respectively, a 16, 12, and 12 kW for the five PV installation scenarios was 67.10, 112.94,
rated wind turbine, or a 195.8, 160.2, and 142.4 ­m2 PV, 147.41, 171.00, and 187.24 MTCO2e. Additionally, 29
may meet the annual net-zero energy/emission balance. samples reached the GP target, and 13 samples met the
(Nicholson and Ugursal 2023) produced a quantitative NZE goal, which corresponds to 13% and 29% of the
justification for the environmental effects of constructing sample total, respectively. The environmental effects of a
traditional homes versus zero energy homes. Out of all the simulated ideal hybrid PV/hydrogen net-zero energy build-
nine environmental impact groups that were examined, the ing with a storage system were evaluated in a different
Net Zero Energy home, which generates electricity using study conducted by Hai et al. (2023). When compared to
photovoltaic modules and has an average environmental fossil fuels, the suggested solution reduces ­CO2 emissions
impact that is 96% lower than the baseline home, is the one by 33% (Fig. 28).
that has the highest reduction in environmental impact. Ke et al. (2024) used system dynamics to forecast car-
Furthermore, if one were to compare the Net Zero home’s bon emissions and energy use on almost zero-energy build-
embodied impacts alone to the baseline home, the differ- ings in China under several scenarios, revealing influential
ence would be 11%. Builders should base their choices on trends and workable emission reduction routes (Fig. 29). The
comprehensive analyses that take into account every phase results indicate a 36.4% and 44.2% reduction in energy use
of a residential building’s life cycle. Three distinct meth- and carbon emissions, showing the significant influence of
odologies are used in a different study by Le et al. (2024) raising public knowledge of energy conservation.
to analyze the environmental effects of several microgrids Chen et al. (2024) assessed the financial and environ-
that comprise of a hybrid hydrogen/battery energy storage mental outcomes of employing photovoltaic-powered liquid
system and a solar plant in a grid-zero energy connected air energy storage (PV-LAES) to attain combined cooling,
building. The sensitivity analysis showed that countries heating, and power (CCHP) supply as a zero energy building
with carbon-intensive electrical grids might mitigate the methodology. The findings demonstrate that the proposed
effects of climate change by boosting the share of renew- system can generate 523.93 MWh of electricity, 57.75 GJ
able energy sources in their energy mix. Using BIM and of cold energy, and 119.24 GJ of heat energy. Moreover,
fuzzy-based techniques, Kathiravel et al. (2024) examined an enhanced round-trip efficiency of 67.05% and a reduc-
the economic and environmental effects of various climate tion of 368.35 tons in carbon emissions was achieved, prov-
conditions in Canadian areas over the course of a build- ing a high energy efficiency and high environmental per-
ing’s life cycle. The study compared the energy sources— formance for upcoming zero-energy buildings. A new idea
solar, natural gas, and electricity—for the HVAC systems for waste upcycling-driven zero energy building (W-ZEB)
of 36 buildings under six different weather scenarios. The was put forth by Yoon and Lee (2024) (Fig. 30). With the
findings showed that the environmental effects were simi- use of waste upcycling techniques (such as waste-to-energy
lar in all scenarios, with an average of 1.4 tonnes CO2eq/ (WtE), insulation material recovery, and biochar used in
m2 in GHG, 1.74 kg/m2 in PM2.5, and 3.61 kg/m2 in SO2 green roofs). A W-ZEB seeks to hasten the development
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

of zero-energy buildings while eventually moving toward practicability of ZEBs in real situations. Partnerships with
positive-energy buildings. industry could also provide valuable insights and data for
An inventive methodology intended to aid in the design these studies.
and operation of zero energy buildings was proposed in a
study by (Bilardo and Fabrizio 2023). The findings dem-
onstrated that the building that is typically regarded as a Industrial sites
ZEB actually functions as a ZPB for only 54.76% of annual
hours and as a carbon–neutral building for 55.58% of annual Few studies have concentrated on ZEBs in industrial set-
hours. This highlights the importance of using dynamic tings, despite these being significant energy consumers.
assessment strategies to accurately assess the performances Future research should focus on the application of ZEB
of the buildings and facilitate relevant comparisons across techniques in industrial sites to understand the unique
a range of contexts. Using a real-world example in Hong challenges and opportunities in these environments.
Kong, (Jia et al. 2023) introduced an optimization design
approach based on "grid-friendly interaction" that optimizes
the energy system of zero-energy buildings to guarantee Climate considerations
improved alignment between the building’s electricity pur-
chase/sale and grid demand. The results demonstrate that the Most studies have been conducted in areas with consistent
optimal system design scheme reduces carbon dioxide emis- solar irradiation, with very few focusing on cold climates
sions by 77% and increases grid friendliness by 83% when or regions with varying seasons. This limitation suggests a
compared to the benchmark building. However, this comes need for research in diverse climatic conditions to develop
at a total cost increase of 180%, which is highly significant adaptable ZEB solutions. Including grey literature from
for both the environment and the safe and stable operation industry sources, such as reports and proceedings, could
of future grids. provide more data on practical applications and challenges
The energy and environmental effects of implementing in different climates.
the new CTE-DB-HE in the Spanish residential sector were
examined by (López-Ochoa et al. 2023). Data was acquired Insulation studies
for several multi-family buildings. The new NZEBs accom-
plish reductions of at least 46% in non-renewable primary There is limited research on the impact of wall and envelope
energy consumption and 13% in overall primary energy insulation on the solar energy efficiency of ZEBs. Future
consumption when compared to the previous NZEBs. Fur- studies should explore this aspect in detail, considering dif-
thermore, by 2050, a 19% decrease in energy usage and envi- ferent insulation materials and techniques to optimize energy
ronmental indices would be accomplished. efficiency.

Techno‑economic assessments
Limitations, gaps, and recommendations
Few studies have undertaken comprehensive techno-
economic assessments, making decision-making for ZEB
Considerable progress has been made in the ZEB research
implementation challenging. Future research should develop
frontier using solar techniques. There is however still room
detailed guidelines or frameworks for conducting cost–ben-
for improvement as some facets have not received exhaustive
efit analyses, lifecycle cost analyses, and regional economic
research. This section identifies key limitations and gaps,
impact studies. These assessments could promote economic
discusses their potential impacts, and proposes specific
incentives and improve existing policies and regulations.
methods for addressing them.
Additionally, future studies should conduct detailed eco-
nomic assessments of the application of passive, active, and
Simulation versus practical studies hybrid solar techniques in zero energy buildings for differ-
ent geographical locations around the globe. This will aid
Many researchers have carried out simulation studies to the informed financial decisions in the implementation of
arrive at an actual ZEB. However, most of these studies these techniques for ZEBs since the investment cost for these
were not validated against real-world scenarios. This gap solar techniques varies in each country as well as the energy
highlights the need for more experimental studies, such as generated.
pilot projects and real-world case studies, to investigate the
 B. Senyonyi et al.

Retrofitting versus design stage Certification programs and workshops

Some studies have used a retrofitting approach to maximize Establish certification programs for professionals interested
passive solar techniques. However, this can be economically in ZEBs. These programs can cover topics like passive
and structurally challenging based on the type of building. design principles, energy modeling and simulation, HVAC
It is more effective to incorporate passive techniques at the systems optimization, solar integration, and techno-enviro-
design stage before the building is constructed to maximize economic evaluations of these systems in ZEBs. Addition-
solar energy use. Future research should focus on the design- ally, regular workshops and seminars can provide hands-
stage integration of passive solar techniques. on training and keep practitioners updated on the latest
advancements in the field.
Skilled labor gap
Apprenticeships and on‑the‑job training
There is a gap in skilled labor in the fields of energy effi-
ciency, energy utilization, and renewable resources in build- Encourage apprenticeships for aspiring ZEB professionals.
ings. This shortage slows the progress of ZEB implemen- Apprentices can learn directly from experienced practition-
tation. Developing training programs for skilled labor is ers. Construction firms and energy agencies can offer on-
essential to address this gap and accelerate the adoption of the-job training programs to upskill existing workers. This
ZEBs.Some of the practical ways in which this could be may also involve putting in place physical labs or simulation
achieved are discussed below. environments where trainees can practice ZEB-related tasks
such as using building energy simulation software including
Education and curriculum enhancement but not limited to, EnergyPlus, DesignBuilder, PVsyst) to
simulate ZEB performance and analyze different scenarios.
Collaborate with educational institutions such as universi-
ties, technical colleges, and vocational schools among others Promote awareness and advocacy
to enhance existing curricula related to energy efficiency,
renewable energy, and sustainable building practices. It is The significance of ZEBs toward sustainability and the role
also worth mentioning that through these institutions, spe- of skilled labor in achieving this target can be raised using
cialized courses or modules specifically on ZEB design, the internet. Online courses, webinars, and tutorials con-
construction, and maintenance can be introduced. Further- cerning these issues can be developed and made accessible
more, interdisciplinary learning by involving various facul- to the global audience using platforms such as EDX, Cour-
ties including mechanical engineering, architecture, envi- sera, or even industry-specific portals. Offering free or low-
ronmental science, and construction management should be cost resources can encourage widespread dissemination of
encouraged. knowledge and participation. The importance of advocating
for government support and incentives to encourage work
Industry‑academia collaboration force development in these efforts cannot be overstated.
For effective and efficient implementation, these strat-
Foster partnerships between industry stakeholders including egies should be tailored to regional contexts, consider-
but not limited to construction companies, energy consult- ing local regulations, climate conditions, and available
ants, manufacturers, and academic institutions. Experts from resources.
industries can contribute to curriculum development, offer
guest lectures, and provide real-world case insights on ZEBs. Standards and policies
Moreover, internship programs fully focused on ZEBs can
bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical ZEB standards, regulations, and policies significantly affect
skills. the adoption of ZEBs. Some countries have been success-
ful in promoting ZEBs, while others have faced more chal-
lenges. Future research should explore the impact of dif-
ferent standards and policies on ZEB adoption rates and
propose improvements to existing regulations in different
parts of the globe.
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Database scope • Active techniques, including photovoltaic systems, solar

thermal systems, and hybrid PV-T systems, offer reliable
The retrieval scope of this review focused solely on the Sco- and efficient means of harnessing solar energy to meet
pus database. This limitation means that the study may not the energy needs of buildings. These systems convert
have comprehensively shown developments in the field of solar energy into usable forms of energy, such as elec-
ZEBs using solar applications from other databases. Future tricity and heat, which can be directly utilized within the
researchers should expand the retrieval scope by including building.
other databases, such as Google Scholar and Web of Sci- • The integration of these solar technologies, along with
ence, to provide a more holistic view of ZEBs. Additionally, energy-efficient building design and renewable energy
interdisciplinary sources from engineering, architecture, systems, is essential for achieving net-zero energy build-
economics, and environmental science should be considered ings that are sustainable, cost-effective, and environmen-
to enrich the understanding of ZEBs. tally friendly.
• The successful implementation of ZEBs requires a holis-
Key words and search string tic approach that considers the unique characteristics and
requirements of each building. By combining passive
The key words used to search the titles of the analyzed and active solar techniques with energy-efficient build-
articles are very specific limiting retrieval of some articles ing design and renewable energy systems, it is possible
from some journals. Future studies could use more thorough to achieve buildings that are not only environmentally
search strings to increase the scope of retrieval of articles friendly but also economically viable and sustainable.
from more journals. • Future research should focus on addressing the limita-
tions identified in the current study, particularly the geo-
Recycling of PV modules graphical applicability and economic feasibility of solar
energy techniques. There is a need for more experimental
Very few studies considered the production and recycling studies, such as pilot projects and real-world case studies,
of solar modules and products. Future research could inves- to investigate the practicability of ZEBs in real situa-
tigate this direction to understand the benefits of recycling tions. Partnerships with industry could provide valuable
these products. insights and data for these studies.
• Additionally, future research should explore the appli-
cation of ZEB techniques in industrial sites, which are
Conclusion significant energy consumers. Understanding the unique
challenges and opportunities in these environments is
The current study provides an extensive review of the vari- crucial for the widespread adoption of ZEBs. Research
ous solar energy techniques employed in achieving zero should also consider diverse climatic conditions to
energy buildings (ZEBs). The study underscores the criti- develop adaptable ZEB solutions. Including grey litera-
cal role of both passive and active solar energy techniques ture from industry sources, such as reports and proceed-
in reducing the energy demand of buildings and generating ings, could provide more data on practical applications
renewable energy to meet the remaining demand. The main and challenges in different climates.
conclusions of the study are as follows; • Comprehensive techno-economic assessments are needed
to evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of ZEB
• Passive techniques, such as building orientation, shading techniques. Developing detailed guidelines or frame-
devices, and Trombe walls, have been shown to effec- works for conducting cost–benefit analyses, lifecycle cost
tively reduce the energy consumption of buildings by analyses, and regional economic impact studies could
utilizing natural heat flow phenomena. These techniques promote economic incentives and improve existing poli-
harness solar energy to maintain comfortable indoor con- cies and regulations.
ditions, thereby minimizing the need for artificial heating • • There is a gap in skilled labor in the fields of energy
and cooling. efficiency, energy utilization, and renewable resources
in buildings. Developing training programs for skilled
 B. Senyonyi et al.

labor is essential to address this gap and accelerate the • Finally, it is suggested that continued research, policy
adoption of ZEBs. support, and industry engagement are vital to advancing
• ZEB standards, regulations, and policies significantly the field of ZEBs. Emphasizing interdisciplinary collab-
affect the adoption of ZEBs. Future research should oration and innovation will help overcome integration
explore the impact of different standards and policies on challenges and promote the widespread adoption of zero
ZEB adoption rates and propose improvements to exist- energy buildings. Additionally, since zero energy build-
ing regulations in different parts of the globe. Expanding ings advancement requires a wide range of expertise from
the retrieval scope by including other databases, such as various disciplines including, energy, civil, surveyors,
Google Scholar and Web of Science, could provide a architects, environmentalists, planners, economists, and
more holistic view of ZEBs. policy makers in both academia and industry, govern-
ments should therefore encourage collaborations at all

Fig. 31  Network Visualization of top 9 contributing journals

Table 4  List of publication Journal Documents Citations Total link

sources with at least two articles strength
in the subject domain
Energy and buildings 9 193 25
Journal of building engineering 2 137 17
Solar energy 8 143 36
Applied energy 2 56 12
Architectural science review 2 4 1
Energies 4 8 5
International journal of energy reviews 2 26 5
Journal of cleaner production 3 16 3
Renewable and sustainable energy reviews 3 208 12
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

levels including national, regional and international to Appendix 1

foster a smooth transition from theory to the practical
implementation of ZEBs. Environmental impact includ- Top publication sources
ing the different solar techniques production and recy-
cling stages such as solar chimneys, solar heaters, PVs, The top nine (9) journals’ network visualization is shown in
etc. can be considered in future studies. Moreover, an Fig. 31. A bigger node size indicates a substantial contribu-
economic analysis of the application of different tech- tion. The node size refers to the overall number of articles
niques of zero energy buildings could be investigated. submitted to the journal. For instance, Energy and buildings
and Solar energy have larger nodes than the other journals,
indicating a greater impact on the research at hand. Addi-
tionally, nodes (sources/journals) of the same color indicate
clusters of connected journals discovered using VOSviewer
analysis. Table 3 displays the sources of information for the

Table 5  List of top ten most cited publications

Document Title of Article Citation

Chel and Kaushik (2018) Renewable energy technologies for sustainable development of energy efficient building 189
Harkouss et al. (2019) Multi-objective optimization methodology for net zero energy buildings 131
Tripathy et al. (2016) A critical review on building integrated photovoltaic products and their applications 130
Tonkoski and Lopes (2011) Impact of active power curtailment on overvoltage prevention and energy production of PV inverters 117
connected to low voltage residential feeders
Wang et al. (2016) Stochastic optimization of hybrid renewable energy systems using sampling average method 65
Baglivo et al. (2014a) Multi-objective optimization analysis for high-efficiency external walls of zero energy buildings (ZEB) in 60
the Mediterranean climate
Bartram et al. (2010) Chasing the negawatt: Visualization for sustainable living 55
Hu et al. (2018) Field investigation of a hybrid photovoltaic-photothermic-radiative cooling system 47
Mytafides et al. (2017) Transformation of a university building into a zero-energy building in Mediterranean climate 41
Maalouf (2016) Hybrid PV/T water solar collector for net zero energy building and freshwater production: A theoretical 36
approach
Table 6  Summary of passive solar techniques for zero energy buildings
References/ year- Keyword(s) Objective Main findings Building type
Location/region-
study type

Di et al. (2017) Heating To understand the impact of the color of a White color lowers cooling requirements in Residential
Mediterranean building on thermal comfort summer
Experimental
(Hong et al. 2022) Heating To investigate the validity of urban con- Positive correlation between received solar Urban
China struction guidelines radiation and heating load
Experimental
Yuxuan et al. (2020) Heating To assess the energy performance of a Utilizing thermochromic coatings in an Office
China building with thermochromic coatings office building can lower annual energy
Simulation usage by 4.28–5.02 kWh/m2 compared to
the common coating and 0.73–1.47 kWh/
m2 compared to the cool coating
Soroush (2021) Architecture design and solar energy To elaborate on how passive solar The simulation results show a 30% decrease Residential
Semi-Arid climates (Iran) architecture can reduce building energy in annual energy consumption of the case
Simulation consumption study building
Florio et al. (2022)Switzerland Architecture design and solar energy To close the gap between the design and The study estimated the embodied energy of Office
Numerical and experimental operation stages of ZEBs the solar ace unit at 29 kWh/m2 per year
Martínez-Molina et al. (2016) Energy efficiency To highlight how retrofitting of buildings Provided a framework on how to improve Residential, educational,
Spain improves energy performance the energy efficiency and thermal comfort museum, religious, and
Literature review of various historical buildings office
Gondal et al. (2019) Energy consumption To assess how passive design features in Demonstrated that solar energies and appro- Residential and office
Pakistan building envelops impact energy con- priate building parameters such as roof/
Simulation and optimization sumption without affecting the building wall thickness, window/wall ratio, and
occupants’ comfort optimum sizing of windows can reduce
energy consumption by up to 33%
Nafeaa et al. (2020) Heating To show the significance of passive The study showed that the combination Residential
Egypt techniques such as adding thermal of all the passive techniques led to an
Simulation and optimization insulation to exterior walls, adding overall reduction in consumption in
external shading, using lighting fixtures cooling demand, total electricity, and
with high efficacy, and using window heating demand was 34%, 17%, and 11%,
glazing with high thermal and radiation respectively
characteristics in reducing cooling and
heating demands and total electricity
consumption and thus arriving to ZEBs
William et al. (2021) Egypt Thermal comfort Using a multi-criteria approach to evalu- The study showed that the implementation Institutional
Numerical ate the energy efficiency and thermal of reflective paint solutions achieves the
comfort achieved by integrating retrofit- highest percentages of whole-building
ting strategies energy savings with 21%, 19%, and 17%
for Aswan, Cairo, and Alexandria, respec-
tively, improving indoor thermal comfort
levels
B. Senyonyi et al.
Table 6  (continued)
References/ year- Keyword(s) Objective Main findings Building type
Location/region-
study type

Lan et al. (2019) Energy efficiency Using a holistic approach to optimize day Derived insights from the case study and Residential
Singapore lighting, cooling, and energy efficiency provided a framework and modeled cases
Numerical and optimization of a building toward zero energy status for design insights, parametric design,
and trade-off analysis toward sustainable,
comfortable, and energy-efficient built
structures
Zinzi et al. (2016) Renewable energy resources and carbon To analyze the potential of retrofit actions The study showed that the combination of Educational
Italy with NZEB targets in existing school the proposed passive techniques restored
Simulation buildings, focusing on the impact of the pre-retrofit performance and the
such measures on Indoor Environmental project resulted in a factor 4 reduction in
Quality (IEQ) space heating, final and primary energy,
and achieved electricity neutrality using
renewable energy sources
Moghaddaszadeh et al. (2019) Energy conversion, energy efficiency To improve the efficiency of heat The suggested technique improved the heat Residential and academic
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

Hungary exchangers of solar collectors using transfer in the heat exchanger, highlight-
Numerical and experimental Al2O3/water nanofluid in a heat ing its adoption in solar collectors in zero
exchanger tube with a swirling flow energy buildings
turbulator
El-Awady et al. (2019) Solar energy To design a solar drier for zero energy Based on the required sludge paper water Industrial
Egypt waste industries demand, a large-scale solar dryer can be
Numerical and Experimental sized accordingly thus achieving a zero-
energy industry with competitive cost and
a clean environment
Mytafides et al. (2017) Thermal comfort Feasibility of using sustainable energy Passive heating and cooling techniques can Educational
Mediterranean measures in educational settings reduce energy consumption in educational
Simulation buildings for sustainability and economic
development while improving the interior
comfort conditions
Khan et al. (2017) Building envelope, solar energy, Energy To design an energy efficient building Achieved a 38% energy reduction by the Sports gym
Italy management using sustainable materials for the roof, proposed design and about 90% of the
Simulation floor, and walls incorporating of an remaining energy needs are met by the
onsite solar energy system onsite system
Kumar et al. (2017) Energy conversion, energy management To design a vertical solar chimney for The used approach proved its efficacity in Residential
India zero energy buildings improving thermal comfort and airflow
Numerical toward low energy buildings
Prakash (2017) Thermal insulation To explore various thermal insulation Highlighted the importance of sustainable Residential
India techniques for ZEBs materials such as date palms, and surge for
Literature review thermal insulation in ZEBs
Napier (2015) Building architectural design, solar To evaluate buildings’ performance as Suggested that each part of the facade Office
UK energy part of a design methodology toward can contribute to daylight, solar control,
Literature review zero energy status energy generation, insulation,
Table 6  (continued)
References/ year- Keyword(s) Objective Main findings Building type
Location/region-
study type

(Baglivo et al. 2014b) Thermal mass A multi-objective analysis to obtain high The superficial mass of the external wall is Residential, educational
Mediterranean energetic efficiency external walls for important for obtaining the best perfor-
Literature review zero energy buildings (ZEBs) in the mance in warm climates ZEBs
Mediterranean climate
Bucking et al. (2013) Solar energy, Energy utilization To estimate and reduce building energy Results showed that the proposed algorithm Residential
Canada consumption at the design stage could be used to identify cost-effective
Simulation trade-offs between passive solar design
and renewable energy generation for ZEBs
Sebald and Vered (1987) Solar energy, energy efficiency To assess the thermal impact of active Demonstrated that rock bins can be used Residential
USA and passive rock bins toward zero to reduce early morning auxiliary energy
Numerical energy status consumption peak in passive houses,
reducing energy costs and improving
energy efficiency
Vassiliades et al. (2019) Solar energy, Energy utilization To simplify the interdisciplinary design Creation of a comprehensive design tool for Residential, office
Cyprus for viable integration of active solar sitting buildings to optimize the integra-
Numerical energy systems into buildings toward tion of solar systems
zero energy status
Bock (2019)UK Building envelope To design an active building envelope The proposed BASSE system for the build- Residential
Simulation and experimental system that harvests solar energy ing envelope design proves its efficacity
through the steel skin of the façade for toward zero energy status
ZEBs
B. Senyonyi et al.
Table 7  Summary of Active solar techniques for zero energy buildings
Publication Year Keyword(s) Objective Main findings Building type
Location/ region
study type

Luo et al. (2020) Solar energy generation, Building Feasibility study of a combination The proposed system saves 72–92% Residential
China envelop of grid-connected PV, TE, battery, of energy in the cold region,
Numerical and Experimental and building envelope structure 88–100% in the mixed zone, and
(PVTEB) for zero energy in build- completely 100% in the cooling
ings dominant zone
Elnaggar (2023) Energy management, solar energy Techno-economic analysis of using Indicated that for Gaza, Palestine, Residential
Gaza solar air heaters and solar water using solar air heaters and solar
Experimental heaters in ZEBs water heaters could save up to
$3275.7 and $3461.3 of energy
cost annually energy cost and
reduce 16,378.57 and 17,306.6 kg/
year of ­CO2 emissions, respectively
Khoury et al. (2015) Solar energy generation, Photovolta- Sizing approach for a PV-battery With a high load profile of 6 kW and Residential
Simulation and Experimental ics backup system to support grid- 31 kWh/day examined, the study
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

connected zero energy building demonstrated that the proposed

system is more advantageous
than diesel generators as a backup
system
Mirzaei et al. (2014) Solar energy generation, Energy A novel setup consisting of a ZEB Provided insights into reducing the Residential
Experimental efficiency model with a mock BIPV panel cost of electricity generated by
plus a solar simulator placed inside BIPV systems by enhancing their
an atmospheric wind tunnel to lifetime against degradation caused
understand the transport mecha- by moisture ingress and thermal
nisms above and below the panels stresses
Herrando et al. (2023) Energy efficiency, Solar energy Presented a validation study of a The results showed that the integra- Industrial
Spain utilization, Buildings solar hybrid pilot plant based on tion of the thermal and electrical
Experimental photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) col- generation of the PV-T collectors
lectors integrated with a reversible with a high-performance rev-HP
heat pump (rev-HP) for energy pro- allows the solar PV-T system to be
vision in non-residential buildings self-sufficient to satisfy the build-
ing energy needs
Li et al. (2022) Solar energy, Heating A novel design for a concentrated With an efficiency of 60%, LCOE of Residential
Arid Areas solar membrane-distillation system 0.015$/kWh and payback period of
Experimental for water purification in a building- 2 years, the design proved its effi-
integrated design for a lower- cacity in demonstrated providing
energy alternative hot water thus reducing scarcity in
arid areas
Al-Yasiri et al. (2022) Energy utilization, Solar energy, The study discussed the main A comparison among solar thermal Residential
Experimental Heating SCACSs, driven by solar thermal SCACSs is performed, consider-
energy, such as absorption, adsorp- ing several technical, operational,
tion, and solid desiccant systems economic, and environmental
indicators
Table 7  (continued)
Publication Year Keyword(s) Objective Main findings Building type
Location/ region
study type

Alshibil et al. (2023) Heating, Solar energy generation, Distinctive design of the hybrid solar The waste heat generated by the Residential
Experimental Energy efficiency collector that utilizes a combina- combi-PV/T module was lowered
tion of water and air simultane- by 77.6%, and the average solar
ously as a working fluid for ZEBs cell surface temperature of the PV
module decreased by 30.6%
Shen et al. (2022) Building envelope, solar energy, Proposed an active pipe-embedded The results showed that the proposed Residential
China energy utilization building envelope system to system could reduce heating load
Numerical and Experimental redistribute heat between the north by about 12.8% during the heating
and south rooms of a building to season for scorching summer and
reduce heating load toward zero chilly winter climates
energy status
Cuadros et al. (2007) Heating, Solar energy, Energy effi- Presented a simple and practical pro- The proposed procedure can be used Low energy
Numerical, simulation, experimental ciency, building design cedure to size active solar heating to estimate climate variables and
schemes for low-energy building compare the efficiencies of solar
design heat collectors, and size installa-
tions for domestic hot water, to
reduce energy consumption in
buildings thus tending toward zero
energy status
Akter et al. (2017) Solar energy generation, photovolta- Economic evaluation of various Furthermore, when only solar PV Residential
Numerical and simulation ics sizes of solar PV units and BESSs units are utilized, the LCOE and
to achieve zero energy status in vice versa
buildings
Riquelme et al. (2023) Building envelope, Energy Utiliza- Used building a simulation program A reduction of 9% of the building Residential
Simulation tion, Renewable energy generation to integrate photovoltaic glazing energy consumption was achieved
systems composed of semi-
transparent organic photovoltaic
elements (OPV)
Sari et al. (2022) Renewable energy, Energy effi- Multi-objective study using the The ­CO2 emissions savings Residential
Taklamakan ciency, Solar energy coyote optimization algorithm to increased from 2531.2 to
Numerical and simulation suggest an optimum hybrid PV/ 13,257 kg/yr, while the cost of
diesel generator/battery Renewable power decreased from 0.39 to
Energy System (HRES) to fulfill 0.24 $/kWh, demonstrating the
the energy needs of building advantages of diesel generators
and battery systems in ensuring
energy supply for stand-alone
renewable energy systems
B. Senyonyi et al.
Table 7  (continued)
Publication Year Keyword(s) Objective Main findings Building type
Location/ region
study type

Li et al. (2019) Solar energy, Energy management, The technological and economic The most cost-effective system Residential
China Photovoltaics viability of several hybrid (PV)/ consisted of a 500 kWp PV array,
Simulation diesel/battery power systems for two diesel generators with a rated
ZEBs of Harbin, China using the power of 1250 kW, 600 batteries,
Hybrid Optimization Model for and a 500 kW converter, while the
Electric Renewables software diesel generator-only system was
the least economical
Tripathy et al. (2016) Solar energy, Energy utilization, Discussed the variety of BIPV prod- Highlighted the importance of Residential, commercial, office
Literature review Photovoltaics ucts that can be used as different proper orientation of BIPV
components of ZEBs modules, and other architectural
considerations
Liu et al. (2021) Photovoltaics, solar energy, build- Investigation of the feasibility and Thorough evaluation of efficiency, Residential, office
Literature review ings applicability of building integrated environmental benefit, and
photovoltaic (BIPV) systems in economic performance of the
Systematic review of solar techniques in zero energy buildings

regions with high solar irradiance BIPV system with different PV

technologies
Ghaleb and Asif (2022) Building envelope, Architectural Investigated the using of commer- The roof utilization factors for the Office, shopping, hospitals, hotels
Literature review design, Buildings, Solar energy cial buildings’ roofs for solar PV, studied buildings were calculated
toward ZEBs focusing on four for five different orientations.
types of buildings—shopping found to range between 0.45 and
malls, office buildings, hotels, and 0.52
hospitals
Ghaleb et al. (s2023) Solar energy generation, Photovolta- Discussed the prospects and barriers Revealed the barriers and provided Residential, commercial, hospital,
Gulf countries ics, Architectural design of applying solar photovoltaic (PV) policy recommendations to over- office
Literature review in the building sector come the identified barriers and to
promote the application of PV in
the building sector toward ZEBs
Li et al. (2020) Energy management, Solar energy, A comprehensive review of building Presented prospects, directions, and Residential, hospital, industrial, office
Global Energy utilization, integrated solar concentrating policies around the world toward
Literature review systems for ZEBs building integrated solar concen-
trating systems toward achieving
zero energy buildings
Kim and Junghans (2023) Energy conversion, Energy utiliza- The study analyses the payback peri- The results showed that improving Commercial, residential, industrial,
Literature review tion, Renewable energy generation, ods of multiple NZEB scenarios the PV energy conversion rate is hospital
Photovoltaics by considering the potential future much more effective in reducing
changes in technology and policy the payback period of NZEBs
required to meet the net-zero emis- compared to raising the C ­ O2
sion target by 2050 equivalent price of the emission
trading scheme
 B. Senyonyi et al.

topic area that have at least two journal-published articles. for sustainable construction. Case Stud Constr Mater 15:e00683.
The most publications (9) and citations (193) are found https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​cscm.​2021.​e00683
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Build 138:332–346. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​enbui​ld.​2016.​12.​
by a study of the most frequently cited papers on solar appli- 065
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were based on all Scopus databases. The study by Chel et al. external shading strategy on energy performance of multi-story
(2018) received 189 citations, and Harkouss et al. (2019) hotel building in hot-humid climate. Energy 169:1166–1174.
https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​energy.​2018.​12.​069
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ers and practitioners around the world have improved and shelter. School of natural resources engineering and manage-
adapted solar application techniques to achieve zero-energy ment, Department of Energy Engineering design of an off-grid
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https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​esd.​2023.​04.​001
Author contribution Brian Senyonyi: Software, Formal analysis, Aly WIA, Tolba MA, Abdelmagied M (2023) Experimental investiga-
Investigation, Validation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review tion and performance evaluation of an oval tubular solar still with
& Editing Hatem Mahmoud: Supervision: Hamdy Hassan: Conceptu- phase change material. Appl Therm Eng 221:119628. https://d​ oi.​
alization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing—Review & Editing, org/​10.​1016/j.​applt​herma​leng.​2022.​119628
Supervision. Al-Yasiri Q, Szabó M, Arıcı M (2022) A review on solar-powered
cooling and air-conditioning systems for building applications.
Funding The authors have not disclosed any funding. Energy Rep 8:2888–2907. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​egyr.​2022.​
01.​172
Data availability No datasets were generated or analyzed during the Amani N, Soroush AAR (2021) Energy consumption management of
current study. commercial buildings by optimizing the angle of solar panels.
J Renew Energy Environ 8:1–7. https://​doi.​org/​10.​30501/​JREE.​
Declarations 2020.​241836.​1134
Anctil A, Lee E, Lunt RR (2020) Net energy and cost benefit of trans-
Conflict of interest The authors have not disclosed any competing in- parent organic solar cells in building-integrated applications.
terests. Appl Energy 261:114429. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​apene​rgy.​
2019.​114429
Askari M, Jahangir MH (2023) Evaluation of thermal performance and
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 B. Senyonyi et al.

Authors and Affiliations

Brian Senyonyi1 · Hatem Mahmoud2,3 · Hamdy Hassan1,4

3
* Hamdy Hassan Architecture Department, Faculty of Engineering, Aswan
hamdyaboali@yahoo.com; hamdy.aboali@ejust.edu.eg University, Aswan, Egypt
4
1 Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty
Energy Resources Engineering Department, Egypt
of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST),
New Borg El‑Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt
2
Environmental Engineering Department, Egypt Japan
University of Science and Technology (E-JUST),
New Borg El‑Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt