Affiliation:
1. Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy (ESE), Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
Abstract
Countless years have been spent researching the strategies necessary for improving the energy consumption of buildings globally. There have been numerous attempts at achieving both passive solutions and enhancing and optimising the existing active systems. This paper seeks to review, analyse and summarise the possibilities of using thermoelectricity in two different contexts to the integration with buildings, integrated thermoelectric systems, and non-integrated thermoelectric systems. The utilisation of thermoelectricity in cohorts with existing renewable technologies and the utilisation of thermoelectric systems that operate individually, both have the potential to provide the occupants of a building with conditions pertinent to thermal and visual comfort. The results in this paper are classified according to the integration types of thermoelectric systems within different parts of the fabric of a building while maintaining an active role in enhancing the building envelope and self-contained thermoelectric systems that sustain a passive role for the same. The introduction to this paper also gives a very broad and surface-level insight into categorisation of different kinds of thermoelectric systems that are being studied and researched across the world.
Subject
Energy (miscellaneous),Energy Engineering and Power Technology,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment,Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Control and Optimization,Engineering (miscellaneous),Building and Construction