Architectural and urbanistic quality of renewable energy installations: For new perspectives on global policies to solar cities and sustainability certifications to buildings, respecting the specificity of each social-environmental context

Initiatives to use, in single or hybrid configurations, solar collectors, photovoltaic panels and wind turbines require an approach of such technologies as an integral part of the organic whole of the built environment, in which quality, in their objective or subjective aspects, includes a range of specific social-environment variables. These variables must be deeply associated with the equipment usage, even if only from the viewpoint of its primary purpose and its role as a generation system. The present research analyses the equipment under broader scales, more specifically its complete specific habitable environment, which is also the target of sustainability certifications for buildings, used worldwide. The paper compares case studies in America and Europe scenarios. Through the case studies, the dichotomy "quality-sustainability" of polices and certifications and its consequent demand for life cycle assessment (LCA) are discussed. The cases also portray the necessity of an integration of scales (spatial and temporal) and dimensions (social, environmental and economic), adapted to each particular scenario, which have been driving the innovation on the LCA itself. Then, based on general investigations of the state of the art of the LCA framework, the innovative issues associated with the aforementioned scales and dimensions are identified and applied to discuss the possibilities on innovation of certifications and policies to solar cities, also regarding their specific environmental contexts.