Abstract
The building sector contributes approximately one third of the total energy consumption worldwide. A large part of this energy is used for the heating and cooling of buildings, which can be drastically reduced by use of energy-efficient glazing. In this study, we performed building energy simulations on a prototypical residential building, and compared commercially available static (low-e, solar IR blocking) to newly developed adaptive thermochromic glazing systems for various climate regions. The modeling results show that static energy-efficient glazing is mainly optimized for either hot climates, where low solar heat gain can reduce cooling demands drastically, or cold climates, where low-e properties have a huge influence on heating demands. For intermediate climates, we demonstrate that adaptive thermochromic glazing in combination with a low-e coating is perfectly suited. The newly developed thermochromic glazing can lead to annual energy consumption improvement of up to 22% in comparison to clear glass, which exceeds all other glazing systems. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in the Netherlands the use of this new glazing system can lead to annual cost savings of EU 638 per dwelling (172 m2, 25% window façade), and to annual nationwide CO2 savings of 4.5 Mt. Ergo, we show that further development of thermochromic smart windows into market-ready products can have a huge economic, ecological and societal impact on all intermediate climate region in the northern hemisphere.
Highlights
The issue of global warming and climate change has been known for a long time
After calculation of the annual energy consumption for our model house, equipped with all five energy-efficient double glazing systems and for all locations, we first studied the performance of each glazing system individually, and compared the energy consumption of the selected energy-efficient glazing to double clear glass
We compared the energy-saving potential of three commercially available and two thermochromic energy-efficient glazing systems developed by our group over clear glass
Summary
That we experience the first consequences resulting from the pollution and high greenhouse gas emissions of the past, the subject is widely recognized, by scientists, and by governments and industry all over the world, and by the general public. This recognition led to the integration of sustainable energy usage and reduced energy consumption into the sustainable development goals (SDGs), which were adopted by all UN member states in 2015 and are a call by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting the environment [1]. Ever-growing extreme climate conditions and an increased number of weather-related natural disasters lead to public protests, like the Fridays for Future movement
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