Carbon reduction and economic evaluation of building attached photovoltaic systems

Abstract

The sole objective of sustainable buildings is to reduce the energy demand and provide a new, renewable, and clean energy source. Building attached photovoltaic system (BAPV) is one of the latest technologies in the building where PV becomes part and parcel of the building either on the facade or on the roof thereby reducing the construction cost in addition to generating electricity. The purpose of this analysis is to compare the cost-economics of facade and roof. The cost-economics of the horizontal BAPV (Facade), tilted BAPV (roof), and vertical BAPV (Facade) have been carried out. The proposed analysis throws some light on the most cost-efficient PV system. The horizontal BAPV (Facade) was found the most cost-effective viable option that replaces the conventional building material used for overhang construction and was the most economical. Thus, the present analysis will pave the way for PV integrated building, guide the end-users, and convince the policymakers to involve subsidies and incentives. In addition to the system economics, the saving of about 22,571 ton/yr of CO2 in its lifetime was assessed. Therefore carbon mitigation was also achieved and used for comparison of the above systems