Active façades : life cycle environmental impacts and savings of photovoltaic power plants integrated into the building envelope

Itten, René; Stucki, Matthias; Clua Longas, Angela; Cattaneo, Gianluca

Publication type:	Conference other
Type of review:	Peer review (abstract)
Title:	Active façades : life cycle environmental impacts and savings of photovoltaic power plants integrated into the building envelope
Authors:	Itten, René Stucki, Matthias Clua Longas, Angela Cattaneo, Gianluca
et. al:	No
Conference details:	9th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Poznan, Poland, 1-4 September 2019
Issue Date:	3-Sep-2019
Language:	English
Subjects:	Life cycle assessment; Photovoltaic; Building; Integrated; Facade; Greenhouse gas emission; Perovskite
Subject (DDC):	621.3: Electrical, communications, control engineering 690: Building and construction
Abstract:	1. Goal Increased energy supply from photovoltaics is a main priority in the “Energy Strategy 2050”. Within the research project “PV2050: Sustainability, market deployment and interaction to the grid – the impacts of advanced photovoltaic solutions” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, we analysed different options for the enhanced integration of photovoltaic (PV) technologies into the envelope of Swiss buildings using novel monolithic silicon heterojunction organometallic perovskite tandem cells (SHJ-PSC) with adaptions to improve the visual acceptance. In a joint effort of product developers, architects and scientists, this project aimed at providing pathways for the wide-scale use of PV façade solutions, and developing integrated designs based on emerging high-efficiency module technologies to improve the visual aspect and acceptance of PV systems installed in Switzerland. These so-called active façades using photovoltaic modules to produce electricity can provide a significant contribution to the energy transition away from fossil and nuclear fuels. 2. Methods We compared the environmental impacts of different types of construction for building façades with and without integrated monolithic silicon heterojunction perovskite tandem modules (SHJ-PSC) with improved visual design using a prospective life cycle assessment with a time horizon of 2025. The comparison includes a conventional roughcast façade, a wooden façade, and two different active façades using photovoltaic modules. Furthermore, we compared the environmental impacts caused by the construction of the different façades with the environmental impacts saved due to the electricity produced by the active façades composed of photovoltaic modules. In addition, we analysed the reduction in environmental impact of the building using building-integrated photovoltaics due to substitution of construction materials for the façade or roof. 3. Results The use of photovoltaic modules as façade or roof will increase the environmental impact of the façade or roof compared to the use of conventional construction materials. However, the environmental impacts over the whole life cycle are significantly reduced due to the PV electricity produced by the building. The environmental impacts of the BIPV façade are about two to three times higher compared to a conventional façade, but the savings due to the electricity produced by the BIPV are five to eight times higher than the impacts of the conventional façade. The use of BIPV panels in the façade of buildings will cause net savings of about 600 kg CO2-eq per square meter over the whole life cycle of BIPV façades, while simultaneously saving 100 kg CO2-eq per square meter of façade for the reduced material demand.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/20714
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	Life Sciences and Facility Management
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR)
Published as part of the ZHAW project:	PV2050: Sustainability, market deployment and interaction to the grid – the impacts of advanced PV solutions
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Life Sciences und Facility Management

Files in This Item:

There are no files associated with this item.

Show full item record

Itten, R., Stucki, M., Clua Longas, A., & Cattaneo, G. (2019, September 3). Active façades : life cycle environmental impacts and savings of photovoltaic power plants integrated into the building envelope. 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Poznan, Poland, 1-4 September 2019.

Itten, R. et al. (2019) ‘Active façades : life cycle environmental impacts and savings of photovoltaic power plants integrated into the building envelope’, in 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Poznan, Poland, 1-4 September 2019.

R. Itten, M. Stucki, A. Clua Longas, and G. Cattaneo, “Active façades : life cycle environmental impacts and savings of photovoltaic power plants integrated into the building envelope,” in 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Poznan, Poland, 1-4 September 2019, Sep. 2019.

ITTEN, René, Matthias STUCKI, Angela CLUA LONGAS und Gianluca CATTANEO, 2019. Active façades : life cycle environmental impacts and savings of photovoltaic power plants integrated into the building envelope. In: 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Poznan, Poland, 1-4 September 2019. Conference presentation. 3 September 2019

Itten, René, Matthias Stucki, Angela Clua Longas, and Gianluca Cattaneo. 2019. “Active Façades : Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Savings of Photovoltaic Power Plants Integrated into the Building Envelope.” Conference presentation. In 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Poznan, Poland, 1-4 September 2019.

Itten, René, et al. “Active Façades : Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Savings of Photovoltaic Power Plants Integrated into the Building Envelope.” 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Poznan, Poland, 1-4 September 2019, 2019.