Net-Zero Energy Consumption Building in China: An Overview of Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Case and Initiative toward Sustainable Future Development

Carbon-neutral strategies have become the focus of international attention, and many countries around the world have adopted building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technologies to achieve low-carbon building operation by utilizing power-generating building materials to generate energy in buildings. The purpose of this study is to review the basic status of the development of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technologies in China, to identify and analyze the existing problems and challenges, and to propose optimization strategies and methods so as to better promote the overall development of green buildings and net-zero energy consumption buildings in China and the world. Primarily, the research area of BIPV is focused on the Chinese region through a case study approach. Subsequently, it elaborates on the theoretical basis of zero-net energy buildings and BIPV as well as the current status of the construction of the world’s low-carbon building standard system, and it summarizes the annual electricity generation of zero carbon buildings adopting BIPV in some European countries. Then, the article further quantitatively and comprehensively analyzes six successful BIPV application cases in China, and it graphically and visually evaluates and demonstrates the average annual net-zero energy performance percentage of the application cases by using the EPI evaluation and measurement tool. At the same time, based on the results of the above assessment, the challenges facing the development of BIPV in China are summarized, and specific incentives for new BIPVs are proposed to address the challenges as well as strategic approaches to optimize BIPVs that are applicable to China as well as Europe and the US. Ultimately, it is concluded that several classic BIPV building cases have achieved essentially 100% net-zero energy operation and maintenance with significant reductions in CO2 emissions and savings of tens of thousands of tonnes of coal consumption. This shows that BIPV technology is gradually developing and maturing in China, and there are great advantages and incremental development space for promoting BIPV in China in the future. The application and promotion strategy of its results in China is also applicable to other countries in the world. It is hoped that based on this experience, countries around the world will implement the “carbon neutral” strategy and zero-net energy consumption development more efficiently and with higher quality so as to realize a greener and cleaner future.