A new approach for the project process: prefabricated building technology integrated with photovoltaics based on the BIM system

Abstract

Due to global warming and energy crisis, it is necessary to reduce CO2 emission and explore on-site renewable energy for the building industry. Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC), a game-changing prefabrication technology, has advantages of labour-saving, leaner work processes with less dust, waste on the construction site, and better quality. To integrate renewable energy on-site, it is necessary to combine photovoltaics industry with building industry. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) serves the dual function of building skin, replacing conventional building envelop materials and transforming solar energy into electric power. Recently, we are investigating building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) as an integral part of the prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) process. By identifying the similarities and benefits of the integration of BIPV and PPVC, we propose to use building information model (BIM) system as the platform to manage the data and share the information from design to building completion. The research also advices a project process workflow indicating the tasks in each stage for different stakeholders.