Abstract
New materials and technologies have become the main drivers for reducing energy demand in the building sector in recent years. Energy efficiency can be reached by utilization of materials with thermal storage potential; among them, phase change materials (PCMs) seem to be promising. If they are used in combination with solar collectors in heating applications or with water chillers or in chilled ceilings in cooling applications, PCMs can provide ecological benefits through energy savings during the building’s operational phase. However, their environmental value should be analyzed by taking into account their whole lifecycle. The purpose of this paper is the assessment of PCMs at the material level as well as at higher levels, namely the component and building levels. Life cycle assessment analyses are based on information from PCM manufacturers and building energy simulations. With the newly developed software “Storage LCA Tool” (Version 1.0, University of Stuttgart, IABP, Stuttgart, Germany), PCM storage systems can be compared with traditional systems that do not entail energy storage. Their benefits can be evaluated in order to support decision-making on energy concepts for buildings. The collection of several case studies shows that PCM energy concepts are not always advantageous. However, with conclusive concepts, suitable storage dimensioning and ecologically favorable PCMs, systems can be realized that have a lower environmental impact over the entire life cycle compared to traditional systems.
Highlights
In a context calling for more affordable, sustainable and modern energy [1,2], the building sector is under particular attention as one of the main drivers of energy consumption
A strategy for energy saving is the combination of a source of renewable energy with thermal energy storage, which can be realized for heating and cooling systems through sensible heat storage materials and through phase change materials (PCMs) and thermochemical materials (TCMs) [5,6]
Since results typically vary from case to case, evaluations of the utility of a PCM application cannot be based on the results of a single case, such as those considered in the previous section
Summary
In a context calling for more affordable, sustainable and modern energy [1,2], the building sector is under particular attention as one of the main drivers of energy consumption. Despite efforts made to improve energy efficiency, the final energy use for space conditioning grew from 118 million TJ in 2010 to around. Water vapor is used in combination with thermally stable and inexpensive nanoporous materials belonging, for example, to the class of zeolites (Zeolite 13X) or composite sorbents [8,9]. Composite materials, such as multiwalled carbon nanotubes/lithium chloride (MWCN-LiCl) especially, have proven to be advantageous due to their heat storage density with both water and methanol as working fluid [10]. For PCMs, latent heat storage can be achieved through state of matter changes (solid → liquid and liquid → solid)
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