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ACCESSIBLE SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY FOR DOMESTIC APPLICATIONS IN THE UK: EDGE SOLAR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2023

Alex Heaton ,
Kyungeun Sung  and
Patrick Isherwood
Alex Heaton
Affiliation:
HiB Ltd, UK;
Kyungeun Sung*
Affiliation:
De Montfort University, UK;
Patrick Isherwood
Affiliation:
Loughborough University, UK
*
Sung, Kyungeun, De Montfort University, United Kingdom, [email protected]

Abstract

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Renewable energy is increasingly used and promoted. In the UK, for example, large scale renewable energy farms have been used to supply electricity with great effect. Given the large number of homes, there is considerable impact to be made by small scale residential renewable energy systems. Despite solar panels being the most common form of residential renewable energy technology, only 4% of buildings in the UK support solar technology of any kind. For direct electricity generation, silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) arrays are the most utilised, and when used in a residential setting, they are typically mounted on the sloped roofs. This is where the problem lies. The technology comes with a high cost, and there is further financial burden of installation and maintenance, making solar energy inaccessible for many UK homeowners. This paper presents a research and design innovation project to make PV technology more accessible in the UK. Edge Solar, the innovative, affordable, new PV system concept for UK homes may become a promising solution to significantly improve the accessibility to the PV technology and renewable energy at the household level in the UK and beyond with further development and commercialisation.

Keywords

Conceptual designDesign engineeringInnovationPhotovoltaic technologyRenewable energy
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 3: ICED23 , July 2023 , pp. 445 - 454
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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