Energetic and visual comfort implications of using perovskite-based building-integrated photovoltaic glazings

Abstract

Building integration of photovoltaics (BIPVs) has been recognized worldwide as a pivotal technology enabling the exploitation of innovative renewable energy sources in buildings, acting as electric power generators within the new framework of smart cities. Photovoltaic (PV) modules can be designed as relevant components of building envelopes, energy-producing units, fulfilling the multiple requirements of construction elements. Their integration in architectural glazings is still impeded by the inherent optical features of commercial solar cells, but also aesthetic, economic and social constraints, still acting as relevant barriers. In this roadmap, novel PV technologies could be effective drivers of a real change of paradigm. We have recently demonstrated that a coherent and exhaustive study of BIPV for semitransparent cells requires a “holistic approach”, taking into account the complex fallouts of semitransparent modules on the energy balance, but also the full assessment of visual comfort benefits deriving from their integration in glazings. We have demonstrated that BIPV could offer manifold advantages: visual comfort effects comparable to commercially available solar control glasses and fair energy yield. Moreover, we found that in several cases the annual energy production overcomes the amount of electric energy used for artificial lighting.