Sustainable buildings increasingly incorporate energy-efficient outer structures and on-site renewable generation solutions to lower their energy consumption and environmental impact. This review describes the most advanced PV technologies and products and builds on the technology-to-product-to-architecture framework for 2025–2050. Its contribution is an integrated assessment of PV technology evolution, building performance, architectural compatibility, techno-economics, sustainability, and implemented BIPV applications. Technologies are evaluated using efficiency, service life, levelised cost of energy, lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions, and BIPV applicability. Monocrystalline silicon systems have about 22%–24% efficiency, CdTe has 18%–19.9%, CIGS has 18%–20% efficiency, and laboratory perovskite solar cells can achieve up to 26.9% efficiency, while the LOCE varies with configuration, financing, technology, and location. Solar windows, façades, roof tiles, and bifacial systems can expand the functional use of building surfaces. The roadmap links near-term BIPV improvements with medium-term tandem and digital energy management and long-term reliability, recycling, circularity, and climate-adaptive integration.
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Basher et al. (2026) studied this question.
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