The global solar thermal collector’s market size was valued at USD 20.77 billion in 2016 in terms of revenue. Growing demand for solar thermal collectors in various commercial, residential, and industrial applications is anticipated to provide a positive scope for market growth over the forecast period. Sustainability assessment of buildings is becoming necessary for sustainable development, especially in the building sector all over the world. The main goals of sustainable design were to reduce the depletion of critical resources such as energy, water, and raw materials; to prevent environmental degradation caused by facilities and infrastructure throughout their life cycle; and to create built environments that are safe, productive and effective utilities of solar energy.

This Special Issue welcomes studies on major features, current status, and existing difficulties related to the various types of solar thermal collectors which could identify several factors affecting the thermal performance, characteristics of the solar thermal systems and building integration possibilities. This Special Issue would not be limited to solar heating in a building, but it will be extended to solar cooling/refrigeration, solar desalination, solar air conditioning/HVAC. We welcome original and review articles which facilitate the understanding of questions prevailing in solar thermal collector technology, diagnosing new research directions towards further improvement of the performance, addressing the important issues related to architectural barriers, system design and installation.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Solar energy
• Thermal collector
• Building integration
• Photovoltaic/thermal collector (PV/T)
• Solar refrigeration
• Absorption refrigeration
• Adsorption refrigeration
• Desiccant cooling
• Dehumidifier
• Optimization
• Green building
• Zero carbon emission