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The thermal insulation performance of the roofs in rural residential buildings in western China was discussed in this paper. A type of residential building that had been extensively constructed in the southern Shaanxi region was selected as the basic model to compare and analyse the thermal insulation performance of different roof forms under natural and heating conditions. The flat roof, sloping roof and sloping roof combined with a flat roof (SF roof) were used by residents. The results showed that the SF roof had better energy-saving performance compared to the other two types of roofs. Further discussion showed that the air layer of the SF roof was the reason for its better thermal insulation performance. In natural conditions, the insulation performance of the air layer accounts for more than 50% of the overall effect. Increasing the height of the air layer will enhance the insulation performance of the SF roof, but it is necessary to balance the performance improvement and cost increase.

As an effective solution to achieve carbon neutrality, the development of low-energy solar houses is now in the ascendant in China. The Qinghai Tibet Plateau (QTP), which is rich in solar energy resources, is considered to be an important region for solar technologies studying. Rural houses are the main living form for residents in the QTP, early-stage design parameters play an important role in achieving low-energy consumption of rural houses. However, researches on the design method and parameters of low-energy solar rural house were relatively poor at present. This paper examined the influence of early-stage design parameters on the energy performance of low-energy solar rural houses incorporating building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roof systems. A 2-storey 110 m2 rural house was studied as an archetype. Through simulation, a range of related building parameters, such as shape coefficient, window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and azimuth angle were analysed and compared. The impact of early-stage design parameters on energy consumption in winter, ventilation in summer and BIPV system annual energy yield were considered.

Solar energy is a type of renewable and sustainable energy. Enhancing the acquisition and utilization of solar radiation in urban residential areas is a crucial strategy for advancing sustainable development goals. The morphology of urban residential areas plays a vital role in determining their solar radiation acquisition (SRA) potential. Existing studies have primarily focused on exploring the correlation between the individual morphology index and SRA potential for residential areas. However, in the actual process of project design, there is a common need to simultaneously adjust multiple morphology indexes according to specific criteria. The question of "How to compare the magnitude of the impact of simultaneous changes in multiple morphology indexes on the SRA potential of a residential area" has not yet been systematically analyzed and fully answered. This study compares the sensitivity of multiple morphology indexes when changed collectively and assesses their comprehensive impact on the SRA potential of residential areas. The aim is to determine how to comprehensively control multiple morphology indexes in the early planning and design stages to maximize solar energy utilization in residential areas. It is concluded that, when considering the floor area ratio index under identical conditions, an increase in building density proves more advantageous for enhancing SRA compared to an increase in building height. In cases where the building height is less than 24 m and the floor area ratio is below 1.5, elevating the building density yields greater photovoltaic (PV) potential for the residential area. With a limited site area, the impact of building height on SRA far outweighs that of the layout. The layout does not significantly affect the annual solar radiation amount per unit of external surface area (ASU). With increasing building height, the impact of layout on heating season solar radiation amount per unit of external surface area (HSU) becomes more pronounced. A vertical staggered layout and a row layout exhibit significantly superior performance compared to a horizontal staggered layout in this regard. However, when the building height exceeds 24 m and the floor area ratio surpasses 1.5, the PV potential of the vertical staggered layout surpasses that of the row layout and horizontal staggered layout for the same building height. The influence of building height on SRA is slightly greater than that of the building orientation under similar conditions. The change in SRA potential with orientation under the same height follows a consistent pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]