Impact of radiative cooling and photovoltaic materials on indoor environment in office buildings

Given the escalating global energy crisis and environmental degradation, reducing energy consumption in office buildings, which account for 20–24 % of public building energy use, has become imperative for achieving carbon neutrality. Radiative cooling and photovoltaic (PV) materials integrated into building envelopes offer energy-saving potential, yet existing studies neglect systematic comparisons of their synergies. This study combines EnergyPlus simulations and parametric analysis to evaluate radiative cooling films, PV films, cool coatings, and PV panels in a Nanjing office building across five Chinese climate zones. Key findings reveal that PV films achieve a maximum temperature reduction of 0.5 °C in south-facing rooms during summer but increase winter heating demands, with top-floor rooms experiencing a 3.4 °C temperature drop. Cool coatings reduce summer indoor temperatures by 1.4 °C yet induce winter overcooling, while wall-mounted PV panels show negligible thermal impacts. Radiative cooling films balance glare control with daylight sufficiency, maintaining a Daylight Glare Probability below 0.35, whereas PV films necessitate artificial lighting due to low transmittance. Regionally, radiative cooling achieves cooling savings of 79.29 MWh in hot Guangzhou but increases heating loads by 27.5 MWh in cold Harbin. This work pioneers a holistic thermo-optical-energy performance framework, guiding climate-resilient building envelope designs.