A Conceptual Framework for a Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Educative-Communication Approach

Abstract

Global interest in Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) has grown following forecasts of a compound annual growth rate of 18.7% and a total of 5.4 GW installed worldwide from 2013 to 2019. Although the BIPV technology has been in the public domain for the last three decades, its adoption has been hindered. Existing literature asserts that proper information and education at the proposal or early design stage is an important way of addressing adoption barriers. However, there is a lack of BIPV communication approaches for research, and market proposals that focus on clear information about its benefits. This has limited the adoption of BIPV.. Based on this, the present study aims to develop a conceptual framework for an educative-communication approach for presenting BIPV proposals to encourage its adoption. This is aimed at developing holistic research and market proposals which justify scholarly investigation and financial investment. Using a multiple case study investigation and Design Research Methodology (DRM) principles, the study developed an approach which combines core communication requirements, the pillars of sustainability and a hierarchical description of BIPV alongside its unique advantages. A two-step evaluation strategy involving an online pilot survey and a literature-based checklist, was used to validate the effectiveness of the developed approach. Our results show that understanding environmental and economic benefits was found to be significantly important to people who are likely adopters of BIPV (p < 0.05), making these benefits crucial drivers of adoption. Statistical significance was also found between those who do not know the benefits of using solar energy for electricity, and interest in knowing these benefits (p < 0.05). We thus conclude that proper communication of these benefits can safely be advanced as important facilitators of BIPV adoption. In general, this study elaborates the need and strategies for appropriate dissemination of innovative ideas to encourage and promote adoption of technological advancement for a sustainable global future.

Latest Progress on Photoabsorbent Materials for Multifunctional Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells

“…A BIPV acts as an integral part of a building; it can utilize a portion of sunlight to power harvesting‐related activities and transmit the remaining light to brighten the interior of the building, thus enabling productive usage of renewable solar energy on vast areas, such as exterior walls or windows, fences, and parking roofs. [ 19–23 ] Hence, most of the above‐discussed examples were designed to target BIPV applications. Though neutral‐colored ST‐OSCs are preferred for the see‐through window applications, colorful ST‐OSCs can be used in various other applications where aesthetics is preferred.…”

“…In particular, building‐integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs), which can utilize the large surface areas of windows, roofs, sidewalls and facades in modern urban environments to produce power‐generating solar windows, and are considered one of the key business markets for future OSCs. [ 19–23 ] Typically, active layer materials in OSCs are comprised of thin films (thickness below 200 nm) due to the lower carrier mobility of these organic semiconducting materials compared to their traditional inorganic counterparts. [ 7 ] This unique property of OSCs inherently offers optical semitransparency in these materials, leading to the revolution in PV technology by designing specially developed OSCs named “semitransparent organic solar cells” (ST‐OSCs), which have both transparent electrodes in their device structure.…”

A review of building integrated photovoltaic: case study of tropical climatic regions

“…One major issue is the likelihood of the BIPV experiencing higher temperatures, because of their attachment to the building structure, thereby reducing the conversion efficiency of the PV module. Some highlighted barriers that may hinder the development of BIPV [59], include: i) lack of awareness of the BIPV especially in developing countries as a means of energy saving and reduction of greenhouse gas emission, and ii) lack of economic and technical solutions about BIPV technology.…”

A Holistic Strategy for Successful Photovoltaic (PV) Implementation into Singapore’s Built Environment

“…Taking into account all three levels, including processes, technology, and people, as shown in Figure 3, the established multilevel mechanism framework attaches a lot of importance to those interconnections and proper information flow, as well as the development of strong links, i.e., merging of PV with the building practice and technology. Moreover, besides the involvement of all relevant stakeholders in appropriate activity/instrument categories, the framework implies active communication, collaboration, and synergism among them, favoring an integrated design process (IDP) and educativecommunication approach as important facilitators of BIPV adoption [12] and knowledge management (KM) [36] which could also help reconcile the differences in stakeholders' views and encourage adoption of PV. In order to improve the current situation in the building sector in terms of PV and transform it into a favorable and encouraging situation for BIPV, besides other measures mentioned, the established framework also proposes changing management (CM) [37] measures in encouragement of PV uptake in practice.…”