Building decarbonization: Assessing the potential of building-integrated photovoltaics and thermal energy storage systems

The significant share of the building sector in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission and final energy consumption makes it a significant target for decarbonization programs. Different standards and technological roadmaps propose several technical solutions to mitigate buildings’ climate change impact, such as improving existing and new buildings’ energy and environmental performance by utilizing Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Energy Storage Systems (ESS). This study aims to examine and quantify the potential of two recommended solutions with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, including Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems, to achieve the building decarbonization targets. Therefore, a residential building is analyzed under three different scenarios, and the CO2 equivalent emission alongside the avoided carbon emission and Environmental Payback Period (EPBP) of each scenario are assessed and compared. The result shows that applying a coupled BIPV-TES system in a residential building equipped with electric heat pumps can reduce CO2 eq emission by 21.42% over 30 years of the building service life.