Whole Life Cycle Energy, Economy, and Environment Collaborative Optimization on a Building Envelope Integrated with Electricity Generator System

Abstract

To generate electricity day and night from solar energy, a building envelope integrated with electricity generator system was proposed. The electricity generator system consisted of photovoltaic (PV) cell, thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules and double-layer phase change material (PCM) plate. To make the process of solar, heat and electricity coupling best in the whole life cycle, a parametric collaborative optimization method was adopted on the PV-PCM-TEG system to find the optimum parameters. The optimization method combined response surface method (RSM) and Non-dominated Sequential Genetic Algorithm and Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (NSGA II-MOPSO) algorithm. The PV-PCM-TEG system was evaluated comprehensively from energy saving (ES), whole life cycle cost (LCC) and carbon dioxide emission reduction (CR). The performance of the PV-PCM-TEG system integrated on wall and roof was investigated. When the PV-PCM-TEG system with optimization installed on the wall, the ES and CR increased 3.92% and 4.17% and the LCC reduced 14.20% compared with the system without optimization. When the PV-PCM-TEG system with optimization installed on the roof, the ES and CR increased 5.73% and 5.94% and the LCC reduced 49.28% compared with the system without optimization.

Keywords: Photovoltaic cell, Phase change material, thermoelectric generator, Energy saving, Whole life cycle cost, Carbon dioxide emission reduction