A pathway to decarbonize residential buildings
Façade BIPV à Bâle © Salathé Architekten
An interdisciplinary journal on the science and technology aspects of the built environment, the Journal of Building Engineering has just published an article on the doctoral thesis of Dr. Sergi Aguacil, completed at the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) in the framework of the Active interfaces research project, part of the NRP 70 of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Entitled “Designing with building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV): A pathway to decarbonize residential buildings?" and co-written with Prof. Emmanuel. Rey, Dr. Sebastian Duqueand Dr. Sophie Lufkin, the article explores the issues involved in the implementation of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) into the renewal process of residential buildings.
The ambitious targets set for greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency by 2050 demand a critical increase of building renovation rates. This challenge is shared by most Western nations, including Europe and Switzerland, where the current annual renovation rate stands at a mere 0.6 %. In this context, designing renovation strategies using building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) components as a new building material is one of the most promising ways to achieve decarbonization of the building stock in an economical and environmentally efficient manner. To this end, building design teams are key, especially in promoting BIPV-based projects to their clients and taking this approach into account from the initial design phase where pivotal decisions with significant impact are made.
The article illustrates the potential impact of specific choices in renovation processes on the overall building performance, considering a Life-Cycle Analysis/Cost (LCA/LCC) and multi-criteria analysis. It uses a 1970's residential building as case study, examining different refurbishment scenarios. Findings reveal that scenarios integrating BIPV can significantly enhance energy savings, achieving up to 122 % in energy efficiency gains, and can meet the 2050 targets for cumulative energy demand (CED) and global warming potential (GWP). Additionally, the most effective BIPV scenarios demonstrate economic viability with a payback period of 14–18 years and internal rates of return (IRR) between 5.3 % and 5.9 %. These results underscore the economic and environmental benefits of BIPV in building renovations and advocate for its broader adoption to achieve national and international climate goals.