Thin-Film Photovoltaic Building Façade: A High-Performance and Smartachitectural Solution

Abstract

The energy crisis, and a demand for green building initiatives along with the concept of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB’s) have led to debates and discussions of replacement of conventional building materials with new, innovative, smart and efficient building materials. In achieving this task, the role of renewable energy system (RES) and opportunities created by them cannot be ignored. The solar energy systems and particularly the photovoltaic technology is an important aspect of the RES and plays a very critical role in designing built environment fostering values of energy efficiency and sustainability. The photovoltaic technology’s potential in creating architecture, which is unique, smart, energy efficient has not been explored enough. This technology has enough potential for converting a passive building design into a smart and efficient system. The paper aims to understand the role of thin-film photovoltaic technology in creating a smart and efficient building façade. The concept of designing, assessing and analyzing photovoltaic façade has been investigated in this paper. The analysis to identify the feasibility was done through the identification of feasibility parameters.