This study addresses the challenge of designing cost-effective and energy-efficient solar energy systems for large-scale, multi-functional building complexes, which typically exhibit high and diverse energy demands. Although integrating solar power with energy storage has shown promise, existing research rarely considers the full complexity of such building types or the trade-offs between cost and renewable energy use. To fill this gap, this study develops a novel assessment framework that quantitatively evaluates system performance across both energy and economic dimensions. The framework is applied to a real-world airport cargo terminal comprising ten functional zones, evaluating six system configurations with different photovoltaic areas and battery capacities. Two optimization objectives are considered: maximizing the share of energy supplied by solar generation and minimizing the levelized cost of electricity. The results show that two of the six configurations stand out as most representative: Case 3 adopts full rooftop and façade photovoltaics with an 87.94 MWh battery, enabling 60 % renewable energy penetration and the highest overall performance score of 4.6 (out of 6), though it requires 14.5 % higher investment; Case 5 uses only façade photovoltaics without storage, delivering the maximum cost saving of 10.4 % and the lowest energy cost of 0.49 CNY/kWh. The findings reveal a clear trade-off between maximizing renewable energy use and minimizing cost. This work contributes a novel, scalable framework for evaluating and optimizing solar energy systems in complex building environments, offering practical decision support for designers, policymakers, and investors seeking to promote sustainable urban energy transitions.

Geothermal energy (GE), as an ideal renewable resource for building cooling/heating with stability and abundance in energy supply, has been widely exploited in developing countries. The common utilization forms of GE mainly include the ground source heat pump (GSHP), underground duct system (UDS), and abandoned wells energy (AWE) system. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive overview of the current developmental status of the GSHP, UDS, and AWE systems for building cooling/heating in developing countries. This chapter will be conducted from the following aspects: (1) The literature review and categories of GE utilization in the developing countries, mainly including the latest literature review on GE development and categories of utilization for building cooling/heating. (2) The common utilization of the GSHP system and its current application and development in the developing countries, mainly including the ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) system and groundwater heat pump (GWHP) system. (3) The common utilization of the UDS system and its current application and development in the developing countries, mainly including the horizontal UDS system, vertical UDS system, and the corresponding coupled system with phase change energy storage and other advanced technologies. (4) The common utilization of the AWE system and its current application and development in the developing countries, mainly including the abandoned oil and gas wells. (5) The existing issues and in-depth analysis on the practical application of GE for building cooling/heating in the developing countries. This chapter can provide some effective guidelines on the various GE utilization forms for building cooling/heating in developing countries.