Attractiveness of Using Photovoltaic Panels in a Building Connected to a Mainly Renewable Electricity Grid

Central Europe towards Sustainable Building

生态环境科学

Saade, M.R.M.^1 ; Da Silva, M.G.^2 ; Gomes, V.^1

University of Campinas, School of Civil Engineering Architecture and Urbanism, Rua Saturnino de Brito s/n, Campinas

13083-889, Brazil^1

Federal University Espírito Santo, Brazil^2

关键词: Cumulative energy demands;    Global warming potential;    Manufacturing efficiency;    Non-renewable energy;    Operational energy;    Operational stages;    Photovoltaic panels;    Renewable electricity;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/290/1/012084/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1755-1315/290/1/012084

学科分类：环境科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Photovoltaic (PV) panels contribute to overall building's loads, but generally have their impacts offset at the operational stage. For increasingly renewable electricity grids, PV's contribution to lowering non-renewable energy becomes less significant. This paper aims at investigating the non-renewable cumulative energy demand (CEDnren) and global warming potential (GWP) payback times associated to onsite PV generation in the highly renewable Brazilian grid, considering a 50-year building service life. Operational energy consumption was simulated in Energy Plus. CEDnren and GWP were calculated through the CED method and CML-IA, respectively. SimaPro 7.3 and Ecoinvent 2.2 supported performed LCAs. Different PV settings were analyzed to rank the most effective technological options. Amorphous and single-Si panels performed worst (around 17 years of non-renewable CED payback time, whilst for GWP the payback time was much shorter for all technologies). PV's production and replacement loads played a significant role, therefore technological investments to increase panels' durability and improve manufacturing efficiency could ensure its attractiveness.