Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPVs) For Your Home - Rise

Where Can You Install Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)?

Essentially, anywhere that sunlight directly hits the exterior surface of your home, homeowners can potentially incorporate BIPV products into the building design. Companies that operate in the BIPV market continue to find ingenious ways to integrate BIPV products into the building envelope seamlessly. They can be part of standard building components such as façades, roofs, or windows. Though you could not generate electricity by placing solar panels on your home foundation, virtually anywhere that sunlight is present, you may be able to find a BIPV product to install.

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What Types of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics Can You Buy?

BIPV products used to be exclusively for roofing. This feature makes sense since our roofs generally receive the most direct solar radiation. Most early innovators in BIPV technology focused on replacing traditional roofing with panels, tiles, or shingles that could generate renewable solar energy while protecting the home from the elements. The impetus for this innovation stemmed from a simple economic calculation. Suppose the average cost of a roofing replacement in the USA costs between $5,500 and $11,500. In that case, solar panels that doubled as a roof could essentially "subsidize" part of the cost of going solar.

More recently, companies have begun to look for ways to incorporate solar energy production in other traditional building elements. Today, homeowners can find BIPV products to "replace" the following building elements:

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• Roofs
• Facades or exterior cladding
• Windows
• Skylights
• Attached greenhouses
• Pergolas
• Balcony railings

Can BIPVs Collect as Much Energy as Solar Panels?

Given the environmental factors mentioned above, many homeowners ask when considering BIPV systems: Will these systems produce nearly as much energy as standard solar panels? In the case of solar roofing or solar shingles, the answer is yes. Solar panels permit installers to tilt the individual panels to the optimum orientation to catch more sunlight. In contrast, solar shingles generally cover the total roofing area, thus making up for this slight difference in inefficiency. In many cases, a roof covered in solar shingles or another type of BIPV roofing should be able to provide the needed electricity for efficient homes to achieve net-zero energy use.

Because of proper orientation, other BIPV products such as solar facades and windows may be less efficient than solar panels. However, this will vary on a case-by-case basis. The south-facing façade of your home may be the best place to capture solar radiation if your roof orientation is not ideal.

In terms of generation efficiency, the case for BIPV systems is less straightforward. The darker BIPV panels such as those used for solar shingles or other types of solar roofing generally have comparable efficiency ratings to regular solar panels. However, the transparent or semi-transparent BIPV panels used on windows, skylights, and other similar surfaces continue to be significantly less efficient. Because these transparent BIPV products allow some solar radiation to pass through, the total generation efficiency might only be 50 to 75 percent as efficient as regular solar panels.

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Author Message Gail Ann J. Goldstead, AIA, CSI, CDT, LEED AP, BD+C
Senior Member
Username: ggoldstead

Post Number: 10
Registered: 03-


Posted on Monday, June 04, - 11:37 am:    Does anyone have an example CSI 3-Part technical Specification for Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Panel Systems that includes information about testing and commissioning for an international that you can share?
Would much appreciate any example specifications as a starting point.
Thanks All, Gail Goldstead Wayne Yancey
Senior Member
Username: wayne_yancey

Post Number: 869
Registered: 01-


Posted on Monday, June 04, - 12:11 pm:    Good morning Gail,

Please look to this location for a starter.

http://www.wbdg.org/ffc/va/va-master-specifications-pg-18-1?page=4 Gail Ann J. Goldstead, AIA, CSI, CDT, LEED AP, BD+C
Senior Member
Username: ggoldstead

Post Number: 11
Registered: 03-


Posted on Monday, June 04, - 02:38 pm:    Thank you much Wayne.
It's interesting that 4specs.com lists it here: 07 - Building Integrated Photovoltaic Systems and that MasterFormat lists an entry here:
26 31 00 Photovoltaic Collectors and ALSO has a broad-scope section: 48 00 00 Electrical Power Generation. It makes sense that the VA would have a spec section: "48 14 00 Solar Energy Electrical Power Generation System" to another entry in MasterFormat.

Nonetheless, most BIPV's are within one of the glazing systems, so it adds complexity.

It's interesting that there seems to be a dearth of guide spec info for this topic. You would think there would be a preponderance.

If anyone else has ideas, especially those that incorporate international electrical standards, I'd appreciate it much.

Thanks All, Gail Goldstead Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC
Senior Member
Username: redseca2

Post Number: 646
Registered: 12-


Posted on Wednesday, June 06, - 04:25 pm:    Putting them in DIV 07 puts their role as a component of the building envelope first, while putting them in DIV 26 puts their role as a component of the building electrical system first, and DIV 48, as a component of a power generating system.

If they are a true component of the building envelope, like Tesla's roof shingles, they should be in DIV 07. If the are redundant to the building envelope, I would put them in DIV 26. Putting them in DIV 48 seems a little show-offy to me. David J. Wyatt, CDT
Senior Member
Username: david_j_wyatt_cdt

Post Number: 250
Registered: 03-
Posted on Wednesday, June 06, - 05:03 pm:    Steven, specifiers have to show off once in awhile to break up the well-loved tedium. The question is, who would notice if we did?

Seriously, though, the Division 48 designations for "solar energy electrical power generation equipment" seem dead-on for this. Where would you classify them in Division 26? Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC
Senior Member
Username: redseca2

Post Number: 647
Registered: 12-


Posted on Wednesday, June 06, - 05:37 pm:    David, my outdated hard copy of Masterspec Section Names includes 26 31 00 - Photovoltaic Collectors.

My architectural MasterSpec license gives me PDF copies of the Section in Outline and Full Length formats.

By fancy I was thinking of pros and cons of placing them beyond Site Work Divisions in the TOC well past where many an owner or contractor may stop looking. Though in looking myself, I found 04 12 00 - Nuclear Fuel Plant Electrical Power Generation Equipment. That is interesting. Can I have that in Outline format?