Solar energy integration into advanced building design for meeting energy demand and environment problem

The dangerous effects of burning fossil fuels on global warming, alternative energy sources will become indeed important in the future. Because of fossil fuels energy sources shall run out by the early 22nd century given the present rate of consumption. Atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases is trapping heat radiated from the Earth's surface, which cause global warming and environmental problems such as greenhouses effect, stratospheric ozone depletion, acid precipitation, and flooding of coastal settlements. This implies that sooner or later humanity will rely heavily on renewable energy sources. Here we have introduced light energy at an idealized large‐scale application to produce solar energy, where exterior skin and roof of buildings shall be at least 25% blackbody‐assisted photovoltaic to capture solar energy during the whole year. Simply, it is a calculative reaction of solar irradiance on innovative building design to capture sunlight most efficiently that would be the cutting edge technology for the ultimate solution of global energy, environment, and climate crisis. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gadolinium-modified titanium oxide materials for photoenergy applications：a review

Gadolinium doped titania materials were explored for application in photoenergy production. Incorporation of gadolinium into titania permitted improvement of photocatalytic or photovoltaic performance of the latter. This review provided a deep analysis of gadolinium applications in photoenergy processes and devices with the main focus on explanation of gadolinium doping effect on physicochemical properties of titania.