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The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the contributions of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems to the notion of nearly zero-energy cities in the capitals of the European Union member states (EU), Norway, and Switzerland. Moreover, an in-depth investigation of the barriers and challenges ahead of the widespread rollout of BIPV technology is undertaken. This study investigates the scalability of the nearly zero-energy concept using BIPV technology in moving from individual buildings to entire cities. This study provide a metric for architects and urban planners that can be used to assess how much of the energy consumed by buildings in Europe could be supplied by BIPV systems when installed as building envelope materials on the outer skins of buildings. The results illustrate that by 2030, when buildings in the EU become more energy-efficient and the efficiency of BIPV systems will have improved considerably, BIPV envelope materials will be a reasonable option for building skins and will help in achieving nearly zero-energy cities. This study reveals that in the EU, taking a building skin to building net surface area ratio of 0.78 and a building skin glazing ratio of 30%, buildings could cover their electricity consumption using BIPV systems by 2030. Eighteen challenges and barriers to the extensive rollout of BIPV systems are recognised, classified, and discussed in this study in detail. The challenges are categorised into five stages, namely the decision, design, implementation, operation and maintenance, and end of life challenges.

This study analyses the challenges in implementing lean manufacturing (LM) in the wood & furniture industry. In order to facilitate the smooth implementation of LM practices in this industry, the challenges in terms of its deployment need to be analysed and observed. Realising this importance, this study proposes a model, using PLS-SEM, which focuses on dealing with the challenges faced in the implementation of lean in the wood & furniture industry. The model consists of ten challenges that were determined based on a survey involving 46 SMEs companies in Malaysia. The findings revealed that the implementation of LM is significantly affected by 3 main issues, namely: knowledge, resources, and, culture and human attitude. Furthermore, the analyses also highlighted four dominant challenges which are related to culture and human attitude issues – lack of employee commitment, lack of senior management's interest and support, difficult to implement, and LM is viewed as "current trend". Overall, the ability to deal with the challenges involving factors of knowledge, and culture and human attitude, determine the success of LM implementation, especially in companies that have limited resources. This study would help wood & furniture SMEs, government agencies, professional bodies, and academics to better understand the challenges when implementing LM practices. Overall, this study aims at investigating the relationships between the three challenges to better promote LM in the scope under study. Therefore, several activities were proposed to overcome the abovementioned challenges and subsequently contributing to the current body of knowledge. ; N/A