Eighth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

The energy consumed by buildings account for the major share of the total energy use globally. The focus today is to design and construct buildings that can produce part of or their entire required energy on site. Northern Cyprus relies majorly on the use of fossil fuels for its electricity generation. Nevertheless, the Electricity Authority of Northern Cyprus, KIB-TEK, is currently taking steps towards replacing a significant portion of its electricity demand with renewable energy. This study gives a description of the current applications and use of solar energy in buildings and its visual impact on the urban form of the city. The study focuses on solar technologies such as building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), building applied photovoltaic (BAPV), and solar thermal applications in the building sector. In this research semi-structured interviews were held with Turkish Cypriot architects and engineers that have worked with solar energy during the building design process. It further investigates the effects of the architectural and constructional characteristics of these buildings on the respective applications. Through its findings, solar energy in buildings have has been used in Cyprus for the past fifty years mainly for water heating. While the application of BIPV and BAPV for electricity generation in buildings is still very low, the potential of utilization is high. Finally, the current level of application of solar energy in buildings in North Cyprus is introduced.