A review of renewable energy applications in buildings in the hot-summer and warm-winter region of China

Renewable energy not only can effectively alleviate the depletion of traditional energy sources, but also meet the need for building development. At present, the applications of renewable energy in buildings are still facing many problems. This paper presents a review of the application of renewable energy systems in buildings, and describes how to make good use of renewable energy for the sustainable development in the hot-summer and warm-winter region of China. The effective measures would improve the calculation methods, design the building and energy system with locality, develop integrated design of renewable energy systems, establish evaluation indexes of renewable energy applicability in buildings, and strengthen project management. Discussion results presented in the paper can provide a guideline for better to apply renewable energy systems to buildings in the hot-summer and warm-winter region of China.