Feasibility of textile envelope integrated flexible photovoltaic in Europe: Carbon footprint assessment and life cycle cost analysis

Textile envelope integrated flexible photovoltaic (TE-FPV) systems gain more attentions in recent years because of their lightweight structure and innovative design. Three types of TE-FPV systems are designed as a sunshade for a teaching building in Politecnico di Milano to replace the current PV glazing sunshade. The environmental and economic feasibility of TE-FPV systems is investigated by applying life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) in a cradle-to-cradle approach. LCA provides carbon footprint of systems to quantify the environmental performance. LCCA study considers the contribution of life cycle cost, building owner income, and social and environmental benefits. The results are compared with the PV glazing sunshade. From the results, all TE-FPV systems can achieve the economic benefits for the whole society while producing renewable and clean energy. Building owner can even earn benefits from the TE-FPV systems in Norway. The proved success of economically feasible TE-FPV systems in Bergen, Norway serves as compelling evidence for the broad applicability of such systems across the most areas within Europe.