Modelling Analysis of Phase Change Materials for Reducing Cold Climate Space Conditioning Loads
Abstract
Because buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of energy consumption, it is critical that emissions-intensive conditioning loads be minimized to achieve global climate targets. One option to decrease conditioning loads is using phase change materials (PCMs) which can be integrated into buildings to store solar gains during peak periods to decrease space cooling loads, and during the heating season, the stored energy can be used to decrease overnight heating loads. Reductions in cold climate heating and cooling loads with PCMs has been limited both in research and in practice, despite that the heating loads account for two thirds of energy consumption in some locations. The objective of this modelling study was to assess the ability of PCMs in full building simulations with various properties to decrease heating and cooling loads in locations with two distinct conditioning seasons. It was found that houses with a greater number of windows had a larger benefit with PCMs due to the greater quantity of absorbed solar and therefore greater utilization of PCM thermal capacity.