Integrating Renewable Energy in Sustainable Construction

Urban areas in Malaysia continue to show a significant reliance on using the non-renewable energy sources, despite the urgent need to make change away from fossil fuels due to the speed of climate change. National net-zero goals are restricted by this dependence, which considerably increases the regional carbon footprints. Although building-integrated renewable energy is a feasible alternative, technological, financial, and spatial constraints severely limit its deployment in established metropolitan contexts. As a result, existing urban buildings remain a major barrier to achieving low-carbon development. This study uses PV*SOL Premium software simulation to evaluate the rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system integration for sustainable construction in Malaysia. The study analyses solar energy consumption, carbon emission reduction, and economic benefits using the building of Block G at UCSI University as a representative urban case study. Solar PV systems are then chosen as the building scale adoption since Malaysia has higher solar irradiation, system capacity and significant national policy support. Based on the simulation results, a 404 kWp rooftop solar system can be expected to generate an estimated annual solar energy production of 554,078 kWh/year. The high energy generation significantly reduces the need for electricity from the grid and it shows the viability of the system in terms of practical and financial feasibility. Ultimately, these models will be a scalable digital tool for retrofitting the urban building stock, offering data-driven benchmarks and actionable insights to support Malaysia's decarbonization efforts, green building strategy, and sustainable urban transition goals.