Abstract
Energy use in buildings represents more than one-third of global energy consumption and contributes to nearly one-quarter of greenhouse gases emission worldwide. The thermal comfort demand represents one of the main cause of the increased energy consumption. To guarantee a thermal indoor comfort, contributing at the same time to the energy saving, the Thermal Energy Storage (TES) methodologies have recently gained interest. These technologies involve the use of a smart material, i.e. a Phase Change Material (PCM), with the capability to absorb/release energy from/in the environment; it can be easily integrated into a building material, such as a mortar. In this work, aerial lime-based mortar with the incorporation of an eco-sustainable PCM have been analyzed with the purpose to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. For its non-toxic nature, a thermoplastic polymer has been selected as PCM, i.e. Poly-Ethylene Glycol (PEG 1000). This material was included in an inert support obtained as byproduct of stone extraction from quarry. The final product, i.e. PEG/stone, can be regarded as a composite to be used as mortar aggregate. A preliminary (chemical and physical) characterization of this compound shown that the sustainable aggregates PEG/stone have an appropriate Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES). The addition of these aggregates into a mortar compositions lead to an unsuitable reduction of mechanical properties.
Highlights
The research is strongly oriented to find new and alternative methods to decrease the global energy consumption
SEM observations were used to investigate the surface of the Lecce Stone (LS) granules and it was found that the LS granules was uniformly covered by PEG
A deeper analysis was carried out through the FT-IR spectroscopy and the results shown that no chemical interaction occurred between PEG and the stone material
Summary
The research is strongly oriented to find new and alternative methods to decrease the global energy consumption. The building sector is one of the largest consumers of energy and, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) the main cause is connected to the higher demand for indoor thermal comfort. In these years, among all the proposed solutions and technologies, Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is considered the best approaches to improve the energy efficiency and to limit the energy consumption of buildings [2]. Among all the proposed solutions and technologies, Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is considered the best approaches to improve the energy efficiency and to limit the energy consumption of buildings [2] This technology involves a Phase Change Material (PCM) as thermal storage medium. Adding a suitable PCM in construction materials can be a possible and an efficient solution to reduce energetic consumption
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