Early Design Stage Consideration of Building Form and BIPVT Energy Performance
Abstract
Building form can be an influencing factor on the energy performance of solar net-zero energy buildings. While previous studies have examined the effects of building form on the energy demand of buildings and energy generation through the use of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), fewer exist for the newer building-integrated photovoltaics with thermal heat recovery (BIPVT) system. Therefore this study analyzes the relationship between building form and BIPVT energy performance to provide guidance for commercial and institutional building design at the early design stage. Through TRNSYS simulations, different building plan shapes are analyzed in a heating dominated climate to determine the balance between energy demand and PV electricity generation and thermal heat recovery. Results indicate that configurations of each of the form families studied were able to reach net-zero energy depending on different enclosure parameters, BIPVT tilt angle, and building orientation, offering different pathways to net zero energy for building designers.