The building sector accounts for more than 40% of the global energy consumption [1]. The total energy consumption of Chinese buildings (i.e., 16 billion tons of standard coal) accounts for 20.7% of the total national end energy consumption [2]. Building energy consumption may be lowered by reducing building energy requirements and using a renewable energy system. However, owing to indoor facilities and human activity, basic heating and cooling loads must be met. The corresponding building energy consumption can be reduced by using a renewable energy system, such as a solar energy system and a heat pump system, which are the most suitable renewable energy systems for the building sector. Heat pump systems are normally driven by grid electricity. Solar energy systems can produce electricity, thermal energy for heating and cooling, and can be used with a chiller to meet building energy requirements. The solar energy systems use less grid electricity than the heat pump systems. Therefore, based on the potential energy-saving effect, a solar heating and cooling system (SHCS) represents the most desirable option for the building sector [3, 4]. An SHCS can supply cooling energy for the chiller during the summer and heat in the winter. A typical SHCS equipped with an absorption chiller is shown in Figure 1. The chiller, solar collector, and thermal energy storage (TES) are the main components of the SHCS, and each influences the performance of the other components. Adsorption chillers and absorption chillers are the two main types of chiller available on the current SHCS market. At values of 0.45 to 0.8, the coefficient of performance (COP) of absorption cooling systems is better than that (0.2 to 0.6) of adsorption systems [5–۱۱]. Most (~70% of) chillers used in European SHCS are equipped with absorption chillers [12], and recent statistics show that the single-effect absorption chiller is a popular choice [5–۸, ۱۳]. Cabrera et al. [14] compared the cost of different types of solar collector used in office buildings and hotels in Madrid and Copenhagen, respectively. The results showed that in the case of the parabolic trough solar collectors (PTC), the energy costs for cooling are (i) similar to those of flat plate solar collectors (FPC) and (ii) lower than those of evacuated tube solar collectors (ETC) and compound parabolic solar collectors (CPC). A study of the solar cooling system in Thailand showed that the cost of the absorption chiller and solar collector represented most of the initial investment [15]. Owing to natural variations in solar irradiation, a TES is essential for controlling fluctuations in the heat transfer fluid temperature supplied to the chiller.