LAUSR

Abstract This study investigated the benefits of implementing wall-mounted Building Integrated Photovoltaic Thermal Systems (BIPV/Ts) combined with an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) on a mid-rise office building located in 5 major Canadian cities. The study objective involved determining the decrease in ASHP compressor power consumption due to the installed system; the duration of its operation when it was non-reliant on the grid, and the magnitude of building CO 2 emissions reduction in the cities. The research approach entailed an evaluation of the hourly solar radiation potential on a vertical surface; undertaking an energy balance across the BIPV/T panels; computing the improvement of the Coefficient of Performance of the ASHP compressor and calculating the total hourly solar power generation on the south, east, and west orientated BIPV/T arrays. The results showed that at several locations and climatic conditions , a 12x5 BIPV/T array on the south facade in combination with 12x4 BIPV/T arrays on the east and west facades could completely meet the power demand of an ASHP compressor during certain spring months, and even reduce it up to 50% during the colder winter months. Furthermore, this study's novelty is that it also demonstrated that the comparative feasibility of the system in the different cities depended on factors that went beyond the focus on electricity use reduction. This study also highlighted the prevailing local and regional conditions, such as the fuel sources responsible for electricity production, building function and the type of occupancy and even provincial regulations such as prescribed glazing ratios, which would influence decision making in regards the potential installation of the proposed system. It is important that in the efforts towards reducing CO 2 emissions, designers and PV technology experts must not always go for the “one-fits all” approach and that design solutions must be targeted to specific contexts.