Sunlight availability and potential food and energy self-sufficiency in tropical generic residential districts

The results show that the indicators having the higher impact on the food and energy self-sufficiency are plot ratio and building height. The cases with the lowest plot ratio (PR < 1.9) achieved food self-sufficiency when a hybrid higher-yield farming method was applied. Regarding energy harvesting, the cases with the lowest building height (<42 m) achieve energy self-sufficiency due to the maximum exposed area with PV per number of residents. In low-latitude regions, solar access is more evenly distributed among all facade orientations than in higher latitudes, therefore providing all facade orientations with food and energy harvesting potential. Food and energy self-sufficiency in equatorial regions is more heavily influenced by the available farming and PV area in relation to the total population than by the reduction of sunlight availability due to building typology and morphology.