Energy Efficient Building Envelopes Research Articles

Green building adaptation in hot-humid climates: assessment of coconut and corn husk fiber composite bricks as energy-efficient building envelopes

PurposeThis study has assessed the thermal performance of locally fabricated bio-based building envelopes made of coconut and corn husk composite bricks to reduce building wall heat transmission load and energy consumption towards green building adaptation.Design/methodology/approachSamples of coconut fiber (coir) and corn husk fiber bricks were fabricated and tested for their thermophysical properties using the Transient Plane Source (TPS) 2500s instrument. A simulation was conducted using Dynamic Energy Response of Building - Lunds Tekniska Hogskola (DEROB-LTH) to determine indoor temperature variation over 24 h. The time lag and decrement factor, two important parameters in evaluating building envelopes, were also determined.FindingsThe time lag of the bio-based composite building envelope was found to be in the range of 4.2–4.6 h for 100 mm thickness block and 10.64–11.5 h for 200 mm thickness block. The decrement factor was also determined to be in the range of 0.87–0.88. The bio-based composite building envelopes were able to maintain the indoor temperature of the model from 25.4 to 27.4 °C, providing a closely stable indoor thermal comfort despite varying outdoor temperatures. The temperature variation in 24 h, was very stable for about 8 h before a degree increment, providing a comfortable indoor temperature for occupants and the need not to rely on air conditions and other mechanical forms of cooling. Potential energy savings also peaked at 529.14 kWh per year.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study present opportunities to building developers and engineers in terms of selecting vernacular materials for building envelopes towards green building adaptation, energy savings, reduced construction costs and job creation.Originality/valueThis study presents for the first time, time lag and decrement factor for bio-based composite building envelopes for green building adaptation in hot climates, as found in Ghana.

A comprehensive review of the thermal performance in energy efficient building envelope incorporated with phase change materials

As the world's largest energy consumer, the building sector is under growing pressure to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. To confront this challenge, the thermal performance of building elements, especially for cooling purposes, must be enhanced. One promising solution involves the incorporation of PCMs to augment a building's thermal mass. Unlike traditional building materials that store thermal energy sensibly, PCMs store it in a latent form by undergoing phase transitions at constant temperatures. This unique characteristic allows PCMs to store and release more heat efficiently than sensible heat thermal energy storage materials. As a result, PCMs have emerged as a prominent solution for passive cooling and heating applications in buildings. This paper proposes a systematic review of existing literature, classifying it based on building components and effective PCM integration methods while considering climatic influences. The primary objective is to comprehensively analyze the application of PCMs within building envelopes to enhance indoor thermal comfort. This study explores various methods for assessing the thermal properties of PCMs and PCM composites. Notably, integrating PCMs into building components like walls and roofs has shown remarkable potential in reducing energy consumption within the building envelope. This approach is precious in lightweight construction, where conventional passive design strategies may fall short. This study aims to bridge the existing research gap and provide valuable insights for designing energy-efficient buildings across diverse climates by systematically evaluating the impact of directly incorporating thermal energy storage systems into building components.

Heating electrification in cold climates: Invest in grid flexibility

One strategy to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in end-use sectors such as building heat is to switch from fossil fuels to electricity. To date, electricity consumption follows a regular and predictable pattern; however, electrifying building heat, which is driven by ambient temperature, causes this pattern to change. Previous work has not fully addressed the implications of building heat electrification on the timing and magnitude of peak demands and on flexibility requirements of the electricity grid. In this work, a high-resolution heating demand model, featuring building stock turnover forecasts, is developed, and applied to British Columbia. The study determines energy, capacity, and flexibility requirements by computing regional energy load profiles for space and water heat. Six scenarios were developed to examine the decarbonization potential in the residential and commercial building sector, considering increased heat pump adoption, building envelope energy efficiency improvements, and the implementation of building energy codes. With an emphasis on building stock improvements, 90% heat pump penetration results in only 6% increase in electrical energy even with an annual population growth rate of 1.1%; however, this scenario leads to a 37% increase in peak electricity demand. Over the time-period considered, building energy codes and retrofit rates contribute relatively little to achieving net-zero emissions in the buildings sector, while building heat electrification has significant impacts on future flexibility requirements of the electricity grid.

MEVO: A Metamodel-Based Evolutionary Optimizer for Building Energy Optimization

A deep energy retrofit of building envelopes is a vital strategy to reduce final energy use in existing buildings towards their net-zero emissions performance. Building energy modeling is a reliable technique that provides a pathway to analyze and optimize various energy-efficient building envelope measures. However, conventional optimization analyses are time-consuming and computationally expensive, especially for complex buildings and many optimization parameters. Therefore, this paper proposed a novel optimization algorithm, MEVO (metamodel-based evolutionary optimizer), developed to efficiently identify optimal retrofit solutions for building envelopes while minimizing the need for extensive simulations. The key innovation of MEVO lies in its integration of evolutionary techniques with design-of-computer experiments, machine learning, and metaheuristic optimization. This approach continuously refined a machine learning model through metaheuristic optimization, crossover, and mutation operations. Comparative assessments were conducted against four alternative metaheuristic algorithms and Bayesian optimization, demonstrating MEVO’s effectiveness in reliably finding the best solution within a reduced computation time. A hypothesis test revealed that the proposed algorithm is significantly better than Bayesian optimization in finding the best cost values. Regarding computation time, the proposed algorithm is 4–7 times faster than the particle swarm optimization algorithm and has a similar computational speed as Bayesian Optimization.

An AI-driven model for predicting and optimizing energy-efficient building envelopes

Unlike many previous studies that often focus on optimizing energy efficiency for buildings when detailed design drawings are available, this paper introduces a newly integrated model for energy-efficient building envelope design in the early stages (when detailed design drawings are not yet available). The newly developed model includes three main components: a simulation model, a predictive model, and an optimization model. The simulation model simulates the building's energy performance, considering different values for various envelope parameters. The predictive model employs machine learning algorithms, including RF, ANN, DNN, SVM, GENLIN, and GB (in which GB has been identified as the most suitable algorithm), boasting a very high R2(0.994) to assess energy consumption. The optimization model which uses AI optimization algorithms (such as NSGA II, DSE, and MOPSO) integrates the machine learning predictive model into the evaluation function during the evolutionary process, efficiently searching for Pareto-optimal building envelope solutions. Results show simultaneous savings in cost and energy, with savings of 7.52 % in cost and 8.48 % in energy, or 21.17 % in cost and 0.4 % in energy, for a case study in Vietnam. This model establishes a foundation by providing design solutions for stakeholders to assess, and can incorporate additional objectives at later stages.

Evaluating the appropriateness of adopting a single Overall Thermal Transfer Value and its implication to building energy regulation

Control on Overall Thermal Transfer Value (OTTV) in buildings is one of the important building energy regulations that govern the design of energy-efficient building envelope. Currently, there are two distinct strategies for OTTV control: (i) a single OTTV limit applicable to all building types, regardless of their diverse operating hours; and (ii) different OTTV limits for different building types. Through building energy simulations of 40 real building cases in Hong Kong, it is revealed that applying a single OTTV limit to both commercial buildings (primarily operating during daylight hours) and hotel buildings (24-h operation) is problematic when considering both the cooling and heating demands. A 24-hr operating building can be designed to meet an OTTV limit but may have a comparatively poor thermal performance in the heating months when compared to another design option with the same OTTV limit. The literature review reveals that there has been no previous study on this problem. In order to tackle this research gap, a novel method including correlation factors, regression equations and additional OTTV requirement has been developed in this study for assessing the thermal performance of 24-hr operating buildings under the current OTTV regulation in Hong Kong. Based on the result from this study, 24-hr operating buildings can be properly designed under the OTTV regulation to achieve good energy efficiency in both the cooling and heating seasons. Policy makers are advised to incorporate this new OTTV evaluation method into the current OTTV regulation in the next round of OTTV review. The methodology developed in this study can be applied in other cities with OTTV regulation implemented.

Evaluation of energy efficient building envelope alternatives for sustainable cities

This study is aimed to create an exemplary project to present the contribution of the new buildings to energy savings when the residential buildings are transformed into green buildings. To create a sustainable built environment in residences, this study emphasizes that low-energy building strategies be combined with efficient and high-performance natural-sourced materials. Our findings show that using a natural-sourced material as the building envelope material has an impact on the use of primary energy and energy costs of the alternatives studied. In this study; In the case of replacing the building external wall components of an existing construction designed with internal insulation in the climatic conditions of Ankara, the change in energy performance has been investigated. The analysis was done with the help of BIM-based Revit Program and “Green buildings studio” where energy simulations were created. In the study, 54 different wall combinations were created by modeling combinations of different construction (porous, gas concrete, and pumice bricks), insulation (glass wool, rock wool, sheep wool, PUR, XPS, and EPS) and, roof (tile, asphalt shingle, and green roof) materials. When the outputs obtained from the analyzes were evaluated, the lowest energy consumption values were observed in the combination of pumice brick wall, green roof, and polyurethane insulation materials. In this scenario, the annual fuel consumption per square meter is determined as 30000.6 MJ/m2. On the other hand, the highest energy consumption values were observed in the combination of porous brick wall, tile roof and sheep wool insulation materials. In this scenario, the annual energy consumption per square meter is determined as 30026.6 MJ/m2. Although there are not high numerical differences between the findings, it has been observed that the results give consistent results with the thermal conductivity coefficients of the materials used in the combinations.

Scalable and flexible porous hybrid film as a thermal insulating subambient radiative cooler for energy-saving buildings

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) is one of the promising alternatives to electrical cooling and has a significant impact on worldwide energy consumption and carbon neutrality. Toward real-world applications, however, the parasitic heat input and heat leakage pose crucial challenge to commercial and residential buildings cooling. The integrating of radiative cooling and thermal insulation properties represents an attractive direction in renewable energy-efficient building envelope materials. Herein, we present a hierarchically porous hybrid film as a scalable and flexible thermal insulating subambient radiative cooler via a simple and inexpensive inverse high internal phase emulsion strategy. The as-prepared porous hybrid film exhibits an intrinsic combination of high solar reflectance (0.95), strong longwave infrared thermal emittance (0.97) and low thermal conductivity (31 mW/(m·K)), yielding a subambient cooling temperature of ~ 8.4 °C during the night and ~ 6.5 °C during the hot midday with an average cooling power of ~ 94 W/m2 under a solar intensity of ~ 900 W/m2. Promisingly, combining the superhydrophobicity, durability, superelasticity, robust mechanical strength, and industrial applicability, the film is favorable for large-scale, sustainable and energy-saving applications in a wide variety of climates and complicated surfaces, enabling a substantial reduction of energy costs, greenhouse gas emission and associated ozone-depleting from traditional cooling systems.

Evaluation of building energy load of a multipurpose hall and its optimization through spectrally selective fenestration and passive design concepts

Sports complexes and recreational centers are large and long-term investments that provide integrated facilities for training athletes and hosting social-cultural events. Due to their daily functioning, such buildings involve high energy consumption resulting in environmental impacts at both local and global scales. This article investigates the currently available methods for assessing the performance characteristics of a Multipurpose Hall using passive design techniques by modifying the building materials used for the wall envelope and fenestration design. Given that the proposed Multipurpose Hall is located near the composite climate of New Delhi, India, a study of climatic responses together with an energy evaluation of the building provides insight into the important envelope design for enhancing a building's energy efficiency. Several energy simulations were performed using DesignBuilder software to determine the annual lighting, heating, and cooling consumption for wall envelopes, window glazings, and dynamic shading techniques. Additionally, the solar gain of various fenestration designs was investigated, and the most energy-efficient building envelope was selected. The comparison of the baseline envelope with the modified envelope design revealed a notable improvement in energy performance.

Optimizing overheating, lighting, and heating energy performances in Canadian school for climate change adaptation: Sensitivity analysis and multi-objective optimization methodology

This paper aims to develop long-term adaptation strategies for the existing Canadian school buildings under extreme current and future climates using a developed methodology based on global and local sensitivity analysis and Multi-Objective Optimization Genetic Algorithm. The calibrated simulation model based on indoor and outdoor measured temperature for a school of interest is used to evaluate the optimization strategies. This paper aims to search for the optimum school building design under three simultaneous conflicting objective functions: (1) the minimization of overheating hours to less than 40 h as required by Building Bulletin BB101 building code by using passive mitigation measures, (2) the minimization of heating energy use to less than 15 kW/m2 according to passive house requirements and thus the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and (3) the minimization of artificial lighting energy use to less than the current lighting energy use by maximization of daylighting usage without exceeding acceptable glare index in classrooms. Ten building design variables are selected, which could generate approximately 300,000 solutions. The developed methodology reduced the numbers to 14,400 solutions and found seven Pareto solutions that comply with the three objectives and their constraints. High energy-efficient building envelope, appropriate window-wall ratio and window type, natural ventilation during the day, and night cooling can play a key role in achieving the objectives under current weather conditions. An additional cool roof and external overhang will be needed in the medium-term future climate, and an additional movable screen shading will be needed in the long-term future climate.

Towards development of sustainable lightweight 3D printed wall building envelopes – Experimental and numerical studies

3D printing technology can be of crucial importance in the design of sustainable and energy-efficient building envelopes. With this technology, there is the potential to mechanically and thermally optimise the topology of printed walls. Additionally, the printing and infill materials used can be insulating, and thus contributing to the overall reduction of heat loss. To date, limited examples of 3D printed envelopes and information about the thermal and mechanical performance of 3D printed walls are available. This study developed a 3D printable wall element with an insulating property for application in building envelopes. Seven wall topologies are studied through simulations of mechanical and thermal performance using two mixtures: a control mixture (normal-weight) and a lightweight mixture containing expanded thermoplastic microspheres (ETM) for thermal insulation. One wall topology is selected based on the performance of the simulation and printed using both mixtures. The 3D printed envelopes were tested under compressive strength and analysed with the ARAMIS system, a digital image correlation (DIC) technology. Computer simulations and the DIC analysis identified the main causes for failure, which are the inter-filament weakness and the imperfections of the geometry of the printed envelope.

A critical review for formulation and conceptualization of an ideal building envelope and novel sustainability framework for building applications

Energy use in the building is responsible for one-third of total carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions globally. Nearly half of the energy loss occurs through the building envelope due to heat transfer to/for the surroundings. Therefore, there is a need to design an optimum building envelope to reduce energy use in buildings that depend on several parameters. This study aims to review different building parameters and provide a conceptual framework to optimize the building envelope. In total, 260 papers were reviewed, and the building envelope design consideration was categorized into: 1) Design Parameters (design and geometry), 2) environmental conditions (indoor and outdoor) and 3) performance criteria (energy, environment, economic, comfort). Energy use and CO 2 -emission in buildings increase with high thermal conductivity, low thermal mass, and low solar absorption of its envelope. Geometrically, building orientation impacts energy use more than the building shape factor. Changing set point temperature according to surrounding conditions has reduced energy use and CO 2 -emission by 30% and 56%, respectively. However, indoor air quality, velocity, and occupancy have meagerly affected building energy use. Energy and emission optimization criteria are directly related, but the emission-based optimized envelope is thicker than the energy one. Other criteria such as economy and comfort (thermal and visual) are inversely proportional to the energy-efficient building envelope. Based on the comprehensive review, this study proposed a conceptual framework to design a sustainable building envelope that includes life cycle assessment, occupant's satisfaction, and social benefits. Several future research recommendations were made, including 1) the use of switchable reflective materials to minimize heat transfer, 2) dynamic insulation material to control insulation value as needed, and 3) smart windows with tunable optical properties.

Synthesis and evaluation of phase change material suitable for energy-saving and carbon reduction of building envelopes

Phase change materials (PCMs) reduce building energy consumption, but practical errors often occur due to material mismatches with the application environment. In this paper, taking Guangzhou as an example, to prepare PCMs with a phase transition temperature (TP) close to 26 °C, the Schrader equation is used, and therefore capric acid (CA) and stearic acid (SA) are selected as raw materials. The experimental results show that at a mass ratio (CA/SA) of 9:1, the PCMs can form a eutectic structure with TP and enthalpy of 24.9 °C and 157.3 J/g, respectively. Furthermore, the simulation results confirm that in the whole life cycle the energy-saving rate of proposed PCMs in Guangzhou is high at about 20 %. The study also provides recommendations for optimizing PCMs use in the hot summer and warm winter climates, i.e. on the outside of the envelope, especially on the west wall and roof, increasing the PCMs amount can better save energy. These results are a guideline on building envelope energy efficiency by using PCMs, which can be applied in the optimization of PCMs selection in different climatic zones.

Energy renovation of the multi-residential historic building after the Zagreb earthquake – Case study

Historic buildings represent our cultural heritage and identity. Due to their age and building tradition, they are extremely vulnerable to seismic excitations, as confirmed by the recent earthquake in the city of Zagreb. In addition, historic buildings are among the buildings with the worst energy performance and very low indoor comfort. In the scope of this paper, the seismic and energy integrated approach is applied to a typical multi-residential building in Zagreb historical downtown. The main focus of the paper is on building envelope energy efficiency measures. Different variants of thermal insulation (external and internal), secondary windows (maintaining existing ones vs. new efficient ones) and ventilation (natural vs. mechanical with heat recovery) are analysed in terms of building energy performance (3D level). Furthermore, replacement of existing technical systems and installation of RES are also considered. Moreover, the acceptability of the proposed retrofitting solutions for opaque elements is evaluated in terms of thermal bridges (2D level) and long-term hygrothermal performance (1D level). Finally, the results show that it is possible even for a 100-year-old building to meet the current national primary energy requirements for new buildings and provide good indoor environmental quality for occupants while respecting the cultural heritage.

An energy analysis of translucent concrete embedded with inclined optical fibers

Translucent concrete (TC) is a kind of energy-efficient building envelope, which is able to transmit daylight into the interior of a building efficiently with improved thermal performance. Previous research shows that a kind of novel TC embedded with inclined optical fibers (OFs) is promising to achieve better climate-responsive transmittance and improved energy-saving potential compared with conventional TC. However, the newly proposed TC differs from traditional one in both light and heat transfer processes, and its distinctive optical and thermal performance have not been fully revealed. To bridge this knowledge gap, an improved optical and thermal model of the novel TC was developed and validated with experimental data. A parametric study was conducted to reveal the effects of optical fiber inclination angle and numerical aperture (NA) on the TC. The results show that the climate-responsive transmittance of TC can be improved by inclining OFs, and this can serve as a feasible method for TC transmittance adjustment especially when OFs with high NA values are not available or not cost-effective. The optimal optical fiber inclination angle is about 10° for a south-facing TC wall in Beijing, which is able to reduce building energy consumption by about 4.98% to 21.88% depending on the coefficient of performance (COP) of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Sensitivity of buildings’ carbon footprint to electricity decarbonization: a life cycle–based multi-objective optimization approach

PurposeLife cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely used method for the evaluation of buildings’ environmental impacts, but these analyses contain high levels of uncertainty. Decarbonization of electricity production is key to reach climate goals, influencing all sectors including construction The objective of this paper is to study the sensitivity of the environmentally optimum building design solution to a changing electricity mix to assist decision-making.MethodsIn this paper, multi-objective optimization was applied to minimize the life cycle global warming potential and life cycle costs of a building at the same time, using dynamic energy simulation and LCA. The variables include building envelope parameters such as window ratio, insulation type and thickness in a typical new multi-family apartment building heated with a heat pump. A static, largely fossil-based electricity mix and a dynamic, gradually decarbonizing alternative are considered, as well as two electricity price increase scenarios. New metrics have been introduced to explore the results and describe the Pareto-optimal solutions, for example the improvement potential to contextualize the achievements through the optimization.Results and discussionThe results show that, with the current electricity mix, building envelope optimization can improve the design by 18% on average in terms of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to typical new designs and by 10% with a dynamic mix in Hungary. With today’s static electricity mix, the optimization proved that the minimum energy efficiency requirements in force are close to cost optimality. However, from an environmental point of view, much higher insulation thicknesses have been shown as justified (U-values of less than 0.1 W/m2K).ConclusionsOptimization of building design based on LCA is still not widely applied and the effect of a decarbonizing electricity mix on the optimum has not been studied before. The results of the paper demonstrate the importance of this question. Optimal solutions are different depending on the applied mix but an energy-efficient building envelope remains important: today’s cost-optimal building envelope proves to be both cost- and environmentally optimal in the long run.

Thermal performance of the building envelope integrated with phase change material for thermal energy storage: an updated review.

• Working principle of PCM as thermal energy storage material in buildings. • Suitable incorporation technique of PCM in building material. • Thermo physical properties of PCM and conventional building material. • Comprehensive summary of up-to-date studies on incorporation of PCM in buildings. One of the major sources of end-use of energy in buildings is consumed in space cooling for improving indoor thermal comfort. Climate extremities like heat waves and extreme temperature events have further pushed the demand for energy in buildings. Therefore, the need of the hour is to develop energy-efficient building envelope for optimizing the end-use of energy in buildings.Enhancing the thermal energy storage capacity of the building envelope by incorporating PCM is one of the sustainable methodsof regulating indoor temperature. This work focuses on the applicability of PCM as a thermal energy storage building material. A detailed discussion on the importance of building envelope and thermophysical properties of the building material is presented in this study. This study highlights the fundamental concept of Phase Change Material, types, and thermophysical properties of Phase Change materials commonly used in building envelopes. Techniques used for the incorporation of the PCM and the principle of working of the PCM in the building envelope were also presented in this study. A comprehensive summary of up-to-date published literature in which PCM is directly incorporated in the building material is also conducted. Lastly, future recommendations based on identified research gaps were suggested.

Carbon-neutral building renovation potential with passive house-certified components: Applications for an exemplary apartment building in the Republic of Korea

Building energy consumption for heating and cooling and the comparatively short building lifecycle help account for the increasing ratio of the building sector's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To counteract this increase, sustainable building envelope renovations can minimize GHG emissions through the extension of building lifecycle, saving of construction material, increased energy efficiency, and reduced heating and cooling energy demands. To reduce the GHG emissions of energy efficient building envelope renovation systems, this article compares the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results of different Passive House (PH) certified building envelope components regarding their GHG emissions per area unit. Based on PH-certified components, different building envelope renovation components were developed. The LCA facilitated the identification of components with the lowest carbon emissions, which were applied in the PH-conforming renovation model of an exemplary apartment building in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The LCA results over a service life of 50 years illustrate that the highest GHG emissions are associated with the renovated building's primary service energy demand, followed by windows, and the transport of materials. These research findings facilitate the environmental impact determination of multiple PH-standard building renovation systems, and support the planning of building renovations with minimized carbon footprints and service energy demands.

Statistical analysis of power generation of semi-transparent photovoltaic (STPV) for diversity in building envelope design: A mock-up test by azimuth and tilt angles

Semi-transparent photovoltaics (STPVs) have received increasing attention as an energy-efficient building envelope that uses renewable energy. It is necessary to find the optimal combination of the azimuth angle and tilt angle to install the STPV and to secure high-power generation. However, various constraints limit the installation of STPVs at optimal angles. In other words, there may be a conflict between the building envelope design and STPV design depending on the circumstances, thereby limiting the design. Therefore, this study presents a statistical analysis of power generation with respect to angle to determine the possibilities in building envelope design. Two identical STPV modules each were installed at five azimuth and tilt angles (i.e., two STPV modules each on 25 sides), and the power generation for one year was measured. Then, 1392 h of data were sampled and a statistical analysis was conducted to compare the power generation. First, the representative values were set after comparing the power generation of the two modules at each angle through the Mann–Whitney test. Then, the power generation of each angle was compared through the Kruskal–Wallis test, and a post hoc analysis was conducted. As a result, power generation for five azimuth angles (e.g., +90° (west), +45° (southwest), 0° (south), −45° (southeast), and −90° (east)) was statistically identical in performance at tilt angles of 3° and 15°. Therefore, it is more desirable to focus designs on securing more area than considering optimal azimuth angle in the generation of maximum power through STPVs, at tilt angles of 3° and 15°. Moreover, STPVs for the tilt angles of 75° and 90° were statistically identical in performance when facing west, southwest, southeast, and east. This suggests that, when an STPV is installed at 75° or 90° of the tilt angle, if it cannot be installed on the south, it will provide statistically identical performance even if it is installed at any other azimuth angle. In light of these findings, this study concludes by providing guidelines for the application of STPVs in early architectural design.

Experimental investigation of clay brick with sensible, latent, and hybrid thermal energy storage in buildings

Global warming has caused uneven extremities in the climate such as heat waves, floods, and extreme rise in temperatures. Consequently, there is increase in demand for energy for indoor space cooling in the buildings to create better indoor thermal comfort. Thermal energy storage (TES) using Phase Change Material (PCM) is an effective technology for improving the thermal performance of the building envelope. Energy efficient building envelope can reduce the external heat gain and maintains indoor thermal comfort level easily. In this study, the thermal performance of clay bricks integrated with sensible heat storage material, latent heat storage material, and hybrid (sensible + latent) was investigated. A comparative study of indoor thermal performance in terms of peak temperature, thermal amplitude, time lag, decrement factor of sensible heat storage brick, latent heat storage brick, and hybrid brick in comparison with conventional brick was prepared. Latent heat storage brick has shown the highest percentage average peak temperature reduction of 3.86 % in comparison to conventional brick. Maximum reduction of 13.74 % was shown by latent heat storage brick followed by hybrid heat storage brick and then by sensible heat storage brick. Time lag of 180 min is observed in brick embedded with latent heat storage capacity. Additionally, infrared thermal images suggest that the brick integrated with latent heat storage material shows better indoor thermal performance.