A Solar energy, to the test of the great glass stage in contemporary Architecture in Saharan environment

Abstract

Currently, the façades of the desert buildings have witnessed and remarkably widespread use of glass. But, without any regard to the lowest harsh climate data. However, this exaggerated use of glass in the contemporary facades of the buildings may cause many problems, especially at the level of thermal comfort of the user. Hence, the excessive energy consumption resulting from heat exchange through the glass. With the current technological developments and the development of new and advanced building materials of glass, who can be used to reduce excessive energy consumption. Among these, materials are insulating glass and energy-producing at the same time. However, how effective is this type of glass in contemporary desert architecture? What is their efficiency at the level of thermal performance inside the building and even on the level of user comfort (heat exchange, production, and energy-saving)? To find out, a comparative study was conducted between four types of glazing materials used in contemporary architecture, Simple Glazing (i), Double Glazing (ii), Semi-Transparent Photovoltaic (STPV) (iii), and the Vacuum Photovoltaic Insulated Glass Unit (VPV IGU) (iv). Before the simulation, an overview of the history of the use of glass in contemporary buildings in Algeria in general and in desert regions, in particular, was presented. After that, the most important results of the comparison study are presented according to the simulation software TRNSYS.

Keywords

• harsh climate. contemporary facades. glazing materials. thermal performance. (stpv) semi-transparent photovoltaic. (vpv igu) vacuum photovoltaic insulated glass unit. trnsys.