A Review on Chemisorption Heat Storage in Low-energy Buildings

Abstract

In France, housing and tertiary buildings are responsible for the consumption of approximately 46% of all energies and approximately 19% of the total CO2 emissions. As demand in thermal comfort of buildings rises, the energy consumption correspondingly increases. For example, in France, the energy consumption of buildings has increased by 30% in the last 30 years.Energy performance of buildings is key to achieve the EU Climate & Energy objectives, namely the reduction of a 20% of the Greenhouse gases emissions by 2020 and a 20% energy savings by 2020. Improving the energy performance of buildings is a cost- effective way of fighting against climate change and improving energy security, while also creating job opportunities, particularly in the building sector. Thermal energy storage systems could make an important contribution in reducing our dependency on fossil fuels, but also in contributing to a more efficient and environmentally benign energy use.The annual solar energy incident on a low-energy building surfaces is far greater than the building needs for space heating and hot water, especially during the summer season. It is obvious that a long-term thermal energy storage system is a means to rationalize the use of this renewable energy. Thermal energy storage can be accomplished either by using sensible heat storage, latent heat storage, physical sorption, heat storage or chemical heat storage. Chemical heat storage has the highest potential for seasonal heat storage: the storage density is high and there is no heat loss to the environment during storage.The objective of the paper is to 1) review the existing implementation of chemisoprtion heat storage and 2) to provide guidelines concerning the application of such system in low or net-zero energy buildings.