A feasibility study on a building's window system based on dye-sensitized solar cells

•We model basic model for energy simulation of building skin.•We examine energy efficiency changes in the variables about DSSC window system and weather.•Applying DSSC window shows improvement of building energy efficiency.•Design guideline for DSSC window system is suggested in various conditions.

This study assessed the applicability of semi-transparent photovoltaics (PVs) that can both produce electricity and transmit light in the window system of a building. The potential of window-integrated semi-transparent photovoltaics (WISPVs) in the current global climate was evaluated by varying the window performance and the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The feasibility of WISPVs was examined quantitatively based on the standard building envelope properties from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the reported DSSC conversion efficiency. The following seven cities, which are representative of what can typically be found in various climate zones, were selected for the building energy simulation: Miami (Zone 1), Sao Paulo (Zone 2), Sydney (Zone 3), New York (Zone 4), Seoul (Zone 4), Berlin (Zone 5), and Moscow (Zone 6). According to the simulation results from the ESP-r program, the WISPVs were more effective in Zone 4, but less effective in Zones 5 and 6.