Glass, Light, and Action: Radiant Horizons of Solar Photovoltaic Glass Illuminating Path to Smart Cities

Introduction

The smart city energy needs might potentially be greatly reduced by incorporating solar photovoltaic (PV) technology into glass, sometimes referred to as solar photovoltaic glass. It evaluates the state of solar PV glass technology, its usefulness and its potential impact on urban environment design in the future (Casini, 2016). The goal in analyzing the intersection of SDG 9 and Industry 5.0 principles is to highlight the critical role that solar PV glass plays in advancing sustainable urban development. So, investigating solar PV glass’s potential in the context of Industry 5.0 this chapter highlights how it may help achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Liu et al., 2018).

With the global focus on sustainable development increasing, the solar sector has emerged as a key player in accelerating the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 9. (SDG-9). The establishing of robust infrastructure, promoting equitable and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation are the three main goals of SDG 9 (Singh, 2023). Using my seven years of solar industry knowledge, I'm proud of how I've helped SDG 9 by encouraging sustainable practices and utilizing renewable energy. This essay will discuss the critical role the solar sector has played in achieving SDG 9 and go into detail about how my work directly contributes to the achievement of this major international goal (Veers et al., 2019).

When it comes to producing photovoltaic (PV) glass for use in buildings and the industry worldwide, solar PV seeks to capture sunlight and transform it into electrical power by using photovoltaic glass as a building material and as a medium for producing electricity. In comparison to traditional architectural glass, the glass panels layers of heat-treated safety glass provide equal thermal and acoustic insulation. These panels have the same properties as regular glass in that they let in natural light (Jacob et al., 2022). As a result, among other architectural applications, these photovoltaic glass panes may be smoothly incorporated into curtain walls, atriums, canopies, and terrace floors (Singh, 2024). They provide a flexible means of adapting pre-existing structures, augmenting its visual and functional aspects. With the capacity to produce free, clean electricity from sunshine and equivalent thermal insulation to ordinary glass, these glass panes enable buildings to dramatically improve energy efficiency, save maintenance and operating costs and lessen their carbon impact (Zehner, 2012).