Photovoltaic Integration in Urban Environmental Design: A Sustainable Method to Energy Harvesting and Aesthetic Enhancement

Guangyu Yang, Shilong Xu

Abstract


The long-standing separation of energy systems and visual aesthetics in current urban environmental design makes it difficult to achieve a unity of function and aesthetics in the spatial composition of photovoltaic (PV) facilities. This paper proposes a Photovoltaic Aesthetic Integration Design Method (PAIDM) based on dynamic light energy mapping and multi-objective optimization. A high-precision radiative transfer simulation of solar flux is performed by establishing a spatial distribution model of light intensity. A multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is applied to achieve the global optimization of the spatial layout and tilt angle of the components with power generation efficiency, surface reflectivity uniformity, and visual coherence as joint objectives. This study utilizes a pure simulation approach to validate the proposed algorithmic design framework.In order to maintain equilibrium between energy conversion and color coordination in the PV system, a spectral sensing mapping function is built concurrently to correct the material reflectivity characteristics. The annual average irradiance of the meridional wall is reported to be 438.6 W/m2 from the experiments, which is equivalent to an energy density of 763.2 kWh/(m²·year). The visual consistency score of the single-crystalline silicon material improved from 0.68 to 0.86 after spectral correction. With the help of this study, photovoltaic integration in urban design has been redefined as the use of an active rather than a passive component for generating sustainable urbanism, where aesthetic and energy-saving can still be maintained.

Keywords


Photovoltaic Aesthetic Integration, Multi-Objective Genetic Optimization, Spectral Perception Mapping, Urban Environmental Design, Energy-Aesthetic Coupling

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References


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DOI (PDF): https://doi.org/10.20508/ijrer.v16i2.16899.g9222

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