Effect of thickness and melting temperature of phase change material integrated into exterior wall on building energy performance and CO2 emission reduction

Abstract

In the study, the effect of phase change materials integrated into the building's external wall has been investigated in terms of material type, thickness, and melting temperature of phase change material on the building energy performance for İzmir Province. A villa residential project has been modelled in 3D using DesignBuilder energy simulation software and two different external wall configurations have been designed by changing the position, thickness and melting temperature of the PCMs into the wall. The amount of CO2 emission reductions that PCMs will provide according to the fuel type of the building's heating system has been calculated. Using PCMs in the external wall not only provides high heating and cooling energy savings but also increases thermal comfort indoors by reducing temperature fluctuations. The PCM melting temperature of 23℃ performs quite well compared to other temperatures in both cooling energy and heating energy demand reduction. By increasing the triple thickness of the PCM, 18.81% in heating energy and 22.85% in cooling energy savings can be achieved. Depending on the external wall and phase change material types, different thicknesses and melting temperatures of PCM, annual total energy saving of the phase-change material is calculated between 10,349.50-83,345.98 kJ/m2.year and the annual CO2 emission reduction according to fuel types has been found as 0.672-14.284 kgCO2/m2.year. © 2024 Gazi Universitesi Muhendislik-Mimarlik. All rights reserved.