Abstract
The construction industry is responsible for consuming large amounts of energy. The development of new materials with the purpose of increasing the thermal efficiency of buildings is, therefore, becoming, imperative. Thus, during the last decades, integration of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) into buildings has gained interest. Such materials can reduce the temperature variations, leading to an improvement in human comfort and decreasing at the same time the energy consumption of buildings, due to their capability to absorb and release energy from/in the environment. In the present paper, recent experimental studies dealing with mortars or concrete-containing PCMs, used as passive building systems, have been examined. This review is mainly aimed at providing information on the currently investigated materials and the employed methodologies for their manufacture, as well as at summarizing the results achieved so far on this subject.
Highlights
The scientific community is severely concerned about the increase of world energy consumption.Global demand for energy is growing rapidly and higher consumption of fossil fuels leads to greater greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide (CO2 ), which contribute to creating heavy environmental impacts, such as ozone layer depletion, global warming and climate change [1].Among all the activities employing a great amount of energy, one of the main sectors in some countries is related to buildings
This review mainly focuses on passive building systems for thermal energy storage based on the integration of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in building materials, a short overview of all the available solutions is presented
The use of PCMs in building materials was reviewed, especially for passive building systems, with the aim to outline their advantages in terms of thermal effects and thermal efficiency
Summary
The scientific community is severely concerned about the increase of world energy consumption. LHTES is the most attractive approach, due to its high storage capability and small temperature variations from storage to retrieval In such a system, energy is stored during melting and recovered during freezing (a). (a) Energy consumption in each(b)sector; is theconsequent most attractive approach, due to its high storage capability and small temperature variations In such a system, energy is stored during melting and recovered during freezing of a. In such a system, energy is stored during melting and recovered during freezing of a Phase Change Material (PCM) [6].
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