Work

Retrofitting Design of Residential Building Rooftops with Attached Solar Photovoltaic Panels and Thermal Collectors: Weighing Carbon Emissions Against Cost Benefits

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: To reduce the carbon emissions of existing residential buildings while pursuing maximum cost benefits, a multi-optimization design method for the existing residential building rooftops, retrofitted by attaching the solar photovoltaic panels and thermal collectors, was proposed in the study. At first, the life cycle carbon emission and cost benefit of the retrofitted buildings were assigned as the optimization objectives, and the models of carbon emission and cost benefit were developed. Furthermore, a typical existing residential community located in the cold zone of China was selected to perform the multi-optimization based on the Grasshopper platform. Meanwhile, the laying area, laying angle, and allocation ratio of the solar photovoltaic panels and thermal collectors were selected as the design parameters. And then the best retrofitting solution suitable for the existing residential buildings was proposed. The results show that the weightings of the carbon emission of retrofitting life cycle are 42.68%, and that for the cost benefit is 57.32%. Significantly, there is a 31% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the building before retrofitting, and a 24.7% reduction in cost benefit.

Source: Buildings

DOI: 10.3390/buildings15173012

Authors: Sheng Yao, Ying Wu, Xuan Liu, Jing Wu, Shiya Zhao, Min Li

Institution: Hebei University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Systems

Subfield: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Field: Energy

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Affordable and clean energy, Sustainable cities and communities, Responsible consumption and production, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137