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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of the experimental building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) façade to cover net energy use in the adjacent office room. Electricity generated by PV panels was intended to cover the energy demand for the mechanical ventilation and the supplementary lighting. Analyses were performed for two orientations of the façade (east and west) and two occupancy profiles considering one or two employees per one office room.

The study was conducted by carrying detailed numerical analyses of energy produced by the BIPV façade and its consumption in adjacent office room. Calculations of energy generated by PV panels were made using simulation programme ESP-r. Advanced model, used in analyses, take into account dependence of the main electrical parameters of photovoltaic cell from temperature.

The findings reveal that energy generated by photovoltaic panels during transitional and cooling seasons is sufficient for lighting and ventilation requirement. However during winter months BIPV facade can cover energy demand only for ventilation.

The paper provides an original analysis of experimental BIPV façade system as a source of on-site produced renewable energy to cover energy demand in offices building under certain climate conditions. The results reported in presented paper shows the potential of BIPV facades and display this potential in a context of building net energy balance.

The maintenance of green building technologies such as building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) is a challenge due to the non-existence of maintainability considerations during the design stage. This led to building defects which accounts to high expenditures throughout the building's lifecycle. The use of BIPV in buildings is an emergent trend, and further research is requisite for their maintainability. This paper assesses the performance and maintainability of BIPV façade applications based on the green maintainability design considerations.

Qualitative method is undertaken in this study, which includes field surveys, instrumental case studies and stakeholder interviews to probe the issues linked with the BIPV's maintainability.

Findings have shown some technical defects discovered in BIPV applications in tropical areas, as well as issues on cost, aesthetics and implementation are the main causes for the low adoption of BIPV in Singapore.

Understanding the research outcomes will embolden designers and allied professionals to team up in ensuring the long-term maintainability and sustainability of green building technologies. This research gives recent and important information in the design, installation and maintainability of BIPV, as well as good practices that would add value to facilities management and to the design of green building technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the key trends in the integration of photovoltaic (PV) facilities into the built environment in cities. This is regarded as part of a series of measures towards wider use of renewable energy sources.

The problem has been approached from the point that cities are consumers of large amounts of energy. They require uninterrupted energy supply but with dynamic power profile. Mainly consumption of energy generated from fossil fuels is present nowadays with significant pollution of the environment as a consequence. The sustainable energy transition in cities means increasing the supply of energy from renewable sources.

The paper points to the integration of PV renewable systems in the built environment, opportunities and constraints, design conditions and tools. The consideration of the constraints which creates urban environment is carried out to understand the complexity of selecting locations in the cities. The paper gives an overview of the possibilities of PV systems integration in the built environment and discusses physical limitations in the urban environment and simulation tools as well as challenges and research and development issues.

The paper offers a critical review of the PV applications which have been illustrated with examples from developed countries. However, examples from developing markets have not been considered. Future work would address this limitation and enable the discussion from a comparative perspective.

The study gives a comprehensive overview of PV integrations in contemporary cities, stimulating architects’ practitioners to acquire the PV technology and aesthetics, and to apply it in future developments.

Observing the use of PV applications from the perspective of architects and designers the discussion and examples covered in this paper offers an original review, which provides the base future in-depth studies on PV applications in various contexts.

This paper aims to present a numerical study on the natural convection, which operates either as an evaporator or condenser unit of the heat pump system to pre-cool and pre-heat the ambient fresh air.

This study focuses on natural air cooling or heating within the air channel considering the double skin configuration. Particular focus is given to the analysis of airflow and the heat transfer processes in an air channel to cool or heat the ambient fresh air. In this study, the physical model consists of one wall, either heated uniformly or cooled uniformly, whereas the other wall is adiabatic.

The results show that the variation of both velocity and temperature is observed as the flow transition occurs at the evaporator or condenser wall. In either case, the temperature rises in the range of 6.3–8.4°C with an increase in mass flow rate from 0.07–0.08 kg/s in the photovoltaic thermal condenser part, while in the photovoltaic thermal evaporator part, the change in mass flow rate from 0.048–0.061 kg/s causes a decrease in temperature from 7.1–4.5°C.

The solar-assisted photovoltaic thermal heat pump system, in building façade having an air layer application, is feasible for pre-heating and pre-cooling the ambient fresh air and also reduces the energy needed to treat the fresh air.

The influence of condensing and evaporating temperature under natural convection mode in double skin conformation is considered for pre-heating and pre-cooling of ambient fresh air.

The roofs of houses located at middle latitudes receive significant solar radiation useful to supply their own energy demands and to feed back into the urban electricity network. However, solar panels should be properly integrated into roofs. This study analyzed roof geometry and integrated solar performance of Photovoltaic, thermal-photovoltaic, and hybrid solar collection technologies on dwelling cases selected from a sample of recent housing developments in Concepción, Chile. Hour-by-hour energy generation estimates and comparisons with demand levels were calculated for representative days during seasons of maximum, minimum as well as mid-season. These estimates took into account the roof tilt and orientation effects also. Trnsys@ software was used to determine electricity supply and F-Chart tool for thermal energy supply. The results show five times more panels can be placed on the largest and most regular shaped roof sections than on those with the smallest and most irregular shapes. The house model with the largest roof section can provide up to six times more energy than the model with the smallest second roof section in different seasons and systems. This paper thus provides new findings on the performance of solar technologies when related to home energy demands and roof geometry.

This study aims to evaluate the effect of the installed photovoltaic (PV) systems on the aesthetic perception of the mosque’s architectural form. It also aims to develop a framework for integrating PV cells with the various elements of the building type.

The study adopted a mixed-method approach comprising both qualitative and quantitative techniques for data collection procedures. This includes surveys, literature review, focus groups and an experiment.

The results revealed a negative impact of the building-applied PV panels on people’s perception of the mosque’s architectural form. However, integrating the PV cells with the mosque form was perceived as more aesthetically pleasing. Certain integrating PV strategies integrated more harmoniously with certain mosque styles.

This study is focused on limited styles of one building type. Extra research is needed to explore the differences between the different participated groups.

There is a lack of research that explores the ways the installed PV systems impact the users’ architectural aesthetic perception of the mosque. This study informs the design process and practice and construction industry by highlighting the opportunities PV systems, as a legitimate sustainable energy resource, offers to architects and manufacturers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify green envelope building components of residential buildings applicable under hot and humid climates and to analyze the effect of these components on building value.

The authors place an emphasis on green envelope components that influence building value and which are derived based on their integration into a building envelope structure that is applicable under hot and humid climates. This is performed through identification of green benefits of each green envelope component based on literature reviews and in relation to green criteria listed by the Malaysia Green Building Index (GBI). Consequently, a quantitative analysis has been conducted to determine the effect of these green envelope components on building value by means of a questionnaire distribution among 550 property valuation practitioners in Malaysia. However, in order to certify respondents’ credibility, the authors analyzed questionnaires answered by property valuation practitioners with experience in green valuation.

The findings show that there are ten green envelope components currently certified under GBI Malaysia and applicable for hot and humid climates. There are three green envelope components that can increase property values, specifically: solar photovoltaic, green living wall and green roof. However, eight of the green envelope components have no effect on building value.

Due to the relative immaturity of the green building market in Malaysia, the authors were unable to analyze the actual percentage of increment on building value as conveyed by each green envelope component.

This paper aims to provide understanding of the effect of individual green envelope components on building value rather than merely the value of green buildings in general. It proves that green building envelope components do in fact contribute to an increase in green building values. As the green building market in Malaysia is still in its infancy, this study is significant in that it prepares the Malaysian green building market to attain a new level by providing valuation practitioners with awareness of green building values and new knowledge concerning the effect of individual green components on building values. Hence, it is anticipated that this study can assist property valuation practitioners in conducting valuations of green buildings in the future.

Faults in the actual outdoor performance of Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems can go unnoticed for several months since the energy productions are subject to significant variations that could mask faulty behaviors. Even large BIPV energy deficits could be hard to detect. The purpose of this paper is to develop a cost-effective approach to automatically detect faults in the energy productions of BIPV systems using historical BIPV energy productions as the only source of information that is typically collected in all BIPV systems.

Energy productions of BIPV systems are time series in nature. Therefore, time series methods are used to automatically detect two categories of faults (outliers and structure changes) in the monthly energy productions of BIPV systems. The research methodology consists of the automatic detection of outliers in energy productions, and automatic detection of structure changes in energy productions.

The proposed approach is applied to detect faults in the monthly energy productions of 89 BIPV systems. The results confirm that outliers and structure changes can be automatically detected in the monthly energy productions of BIPV systems using time series methods in presence of short-term variations, monthly seasonality, and long-term degradation in performance.

Unlike existing methods, the proposed approach does not require performance ratio calculation, operating condition data, such as solar irradiation, or the output of neighboring BIPV systems. It only uses the historical information about the BIPV energy productions to distinguish between faults and other time series properties including seasonality, short-term variations, and degradation trends.

This paper aims to explore the process of implementing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in construction to contribute to the understanding of systemic innovation in construction.

The exploratory research presented is based on qualitative data collected in workshops and interviews with 76 construction- and solar-industry actors experienced in solar PV projects. Actor-specific barriers were identified and analysed using an abductive approach.

In light of established definitions of systemic innovation, the process of implementing solar PV systems in construction involves challenges regarding technical and material issues, competencies, and informal and formal institutions. The specificities of this case highlight the necessity of paying attention to details in the process and to develop knowledge of systemic innovation in construction since the industry’s involvement in addressing societal challenges related to the energy transition will require implementing such innovations much more in the future.

New knowledge of solar PV systems as an innovation in professional construction is collected, enabling the adaptation of management strategies for its implementation. This knowledge can also be applied generally to other challenges encountered in highly systemic innovation implementation. Solar industry actors can gain an understanding of solar-specific challenges for the construction industry, challenges for which they must adapt their activities.

The exploration of actor-specific experiences of solar PV projects has resulted in a novel understanding of this specific innovation and its implementation. The findings illustrate a case of a high level of systemic innovation and the need to use a finer-grained scale for classification when studying innovation in construction.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the growing trend of developing and managing photovoltaic facilities owned by third parties in buildings, as a possible alternative to energy performance contracting.

Based on an established business model template, analysis is carried out on the framework of using third-party finance in the provision of photovoltaic facilities in buildings. Case studies in the USA and China enable comparison of policy tools enabling this approach.

While barriers exist in the common energy performance contracting approach for renewable installations owned by the building owner, vesting photovoltaic equipment with a third party for a certain period has become a viable business alternative as long as revenue is generated through a power purchase agreement or lease arrangement with the building owner.

The third-party ownership business model works better if sufficient policy incentives exist alongside the revenue brought about by renewable energy. Hence, governments have to create the right environment.

Win-win situations have been identified through case studies in countries with burgeoning renewable energy use in buildings, notably the USA and China, giving new insights on facilities management.