A novel design framework for solar thermal/electrical activation of building envelopes

Abstract

Building integrated solar materials have a great potential for direct and indirect carbon emission reductions of the built environment. The main perceived barriers for wide-spread building integration of solar energy are economic feasibility, lack of available materials and lack of knowledge about the integration process. In the past, economical aspects and product diversity have been addressed by joint research and industry efforts, resulting in a growing number of products and decreasing costs. To further support knowledge transfer and foster the design with solar materials in the built environment, we present an early design stage framework for thermal and electrical activation of building envelopes with solar materials. The goal of the framework is to provide fast feedback of energy performance values and visualizations to study the interactions of building geometry, building systems and aesthetic design choices. Design choices include cover technologies with different colors, photovoltaic cell types and thermal absorber types as well as heating system choices. The calculations are based on physical and semi-empirical equations. Typical values have been implemented to make the framework accessible to non-experts. Results are compared with experimental data from literature and the impact of design choices is demonstrated by a case study where different combinations and different cover types were investigated.