Sustainable Evaluation Method for PV Buildings

In Europe, the Photovoltaic technology has been recording, in the last few years, a renovated interest by researchers, enterprises and users. The reasons of such an attention are to be found both in the richer and richer activity of the European Community that, through various directives and laws, has made the PV system installation cheaper, and in a growing worldwide research activity focused on the development of newer technologies, whose main goals are higher energy productivity and modules with lower impacts on environment (for example organic solar cells made up with photoactive materials totally natural and recyclable). Thus, with this growing use, nowadays the real challenge, for architects and enterprises, is the definition of a new photovoltaic architecture, that means to design building organism, PV cells and surrounding landscape in an olistic way. This aspect is more notable when the design deals with existing buildings, very often carrying historical, artistic and environmental values. A good integration between architecture and PV technology should be aimed at joining the energy production and environmental performances of the PV and the aesthetic quality of the space that contains it. The evaluation method shown in the paper takes into account each of the aspect which characterize the relationship between PV systems, environment and architecture: from the production process till the end of the life cycle, from the impacts on environment and human health that the PV can cause during all its life cycle until the technical properties of the panels, and finally from its integration with the building till the economy considerations. The final result will be provided as a comparison value, within the method, for the eco-sustainability, biocompatibility and effectiveness between two different case studies for each country chosen among Europe (England, Germany Italy etc.), with different climate contexts, PV technologies and way of integration.