Inorganic, Coloured Thin Films for Solar Thermal Energy Convertors in Sustainable Buildings

Abstract

The increasing need to develop a sustainable built environment asks for the integration of solar energy conversion technologies in the new or existing building elements. The integration must meet basic requirements on functionality, cost, environmental protection and last but not least social acceptance. This involves efforts to find novel, competitive solutions, to slow down (or stop) climate change and also to answer the increasing needs of the social system. The paper presents flat plate solar thermal collectors (FPSTC) with nontraditional shapes and colour, suitable for façades’ integration. The coloured absorber plates (red, green and yellow-orange) were integrated at demonstrator level, and the recorded nominal efficiencies reached promising values.