Solar Energy Applications in Houses: Performance and Economics in Europe provides information on the state of development of solar space and water heating technology and on the influence of climatic and economic factors on the attractiveness of solar systems. The book discusses the aspects of climate relevant to solar system and house designs; the impacts of the different European climates on the thermal design and heating requirements of individual houses; and the passive solar energy use in buildings. The text also describes the components of active solar energy systems; the performance of active solar energy systems; and the economics of solar space and water heating. The supporting activities for solar energy systems and other energy-saving technologies implemented by governments, companies, energy supply utilities, solar societies and the Commission of the European Communities are also considered. The book will be invaluable to potential buyers or owners of systems who need practical information on the technical and economic possibilities of domestic solar energy use in the various countries of the European Communities. The information is also important for those people in government, administration, industry and research institutions who are involved in assessing solar energy applications, in planning for the future energy supply, in developing support measures for the introduction of energy-saving methods and in marketing solar hardware.

Five papers were selected for this Special Issue, with three relating to solar energy applications in houses, smart cities, and microgrids; one studying the relationship between the smart city model and the concept of energy sustainability; and one addressing the following two topics: the lack of effectiveness of detection algorithms based on the voltage/frequency displacement concept under voltage-controlled inverters and the applicability limits of others based on the impedance measurement (IM).

Solar Energy Application in Buildings discusses the successful utilization of the Sun's energy in various cultures, continents, and climates. This book consists of 19 chapters and begins with considerable chapters devoted to the fundamentals of solar energy, including climate, storage, and material properties. The subsequent chapters discuss the concept of passive heating and cooling in buildings. The remaining nine chapters deal with various applications of solar energy in buildings in the United States, Iran, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Great Britain, India, and France. This work will be of great value to scientists and engineers who are interested in the great potential of solar energy.

The objectives of the Modelling Sub-Group are to unify European research in the field of computer models, to provide the best simplified models in the Passive Solar Working Group's extensive European Passive Solar Handbook and to ensure that these simple models are easy to use for design purposes. It has defined the needs of the research program for a large model and has chosen the Scottish program ESP as a large simulation model to be used as a reference for the analysis of the simplified ones. Each participant has commissioned the chosen model on his own computer and run a very simple exercise, just to verify that the program works similarily on the different machines. The analysis of the large model is being brought on its different sections, such as : input, output, heat transfer, passive solar systems, etc. The group will run ESP using the same passive solar bulding data as inputted to simplified models to assess the sensitivity of the latter ones. It will report on the work needed for the next 4 year CEC research program.

The agri-food chain consumes about one third of the world’s energy production with about 12% of it for crop production and nearly 80% for processing, distribution, retail, preparation and cooking. The agri-food chain also accounts for 80-90% of total global freshwater use where 70% alone is for irrigation. Additionally, on a global scale, freshwater production consumes nearly 15% of the entire energy production. It can therefore be argued that making agriculture and the agri-food supply chain independent from fossil fuel use has a huge potential to contribute to global food security and climate protection not only for the next decades but also for the coming century. Provision of secure, accessible and environmentally sustainable supplies of water, energy and food must thus be a priority. One of the major objectives of the world’s scientists, farmers, decisions makers and industrialists is to overcome the present dependence on fossil fuels in the agro-food sector. This dependency increases the volatility of food prices and affects economic access to sustenance. This book provides a critical review of recent developments in solar, wind and geothermal energy applications in agriculture and the agro-food sector such as processing, distribution, retail, preparation and cooking.