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SUSREF
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Image 28. Evaporative wall. (Naticcia et al. 2010)
One potential use for the evaporative wall is that it could be used in creating more effective
ventilated façades. Evaporative wall could allow thicker insulation layers, without the risk of
overheating in summer. This way, evaporative wall structure could lead to reduced heating
energy need in winter and reduced cooling energy need in summer.
3.8.5 Photovoltaic façades
Photovoltaic (PV) façades offer one of the most viable ways to produce electricity in urban
environment. However, PV façades face problems, since neighboring buildings can form
obstructions to sun and sky and reduce amount of available solar radiation. (Yun and
Seemers 2009) Also temperature increase in PV modules creates problems, since high
temperatures cause electrical output of PV modules to decrease. (Yun et al. 2006)
The amount of annual solar radiation also varies widely depending on the location of a
building and the orientation of its façade. The following Image 29 illustrates this issue.
Image 29. Annual solar radiation on PV panel (a) and output of vertical PV panel (b) as a function
of location and orientation. (Yun and Seemers 2009)