A Study of Hot Climate Low-Cost Low-Energy Eco-Friendly Building Envelope with Embedded Phase Change Material

Atiq Ur Rehman, Nouman Ghafoor, Shakil R. Sheikh, Zareena Kausar, Fawad Rauf, Farooq Sher, Muhammad Faizan Shah and Haseeb Yaqoob
Additional contact information
Atiq Ur Rehman: Department of Mechatronics and Bio-Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Air University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Nouman Ghafoor: Department of Mechatronics and Bio-Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Air University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Shakil R. Sheikh: Department of Mechatronics and Bio-Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Air University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Zareena Kausar: Department of Mechatronics and Bio-Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Air University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Fawad Rauf: College of Business, Engineering and Technology, Texas A & M University-Texarkana, Texarkana, TX 75503, USA
Farooq Sher: Department of Engineering, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK
Muhammad Faizan Shah: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering & IT, Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab 64200, Pakistan
Haseeb Yaqoob: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering & IT, Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab 64200, Pakistan

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-23

Abstract: The generation and use of energy are significant contributors to CO 2 emissions. Globally, approximately 30% to 40% of all energy consumption can be directly or indirectly linked to buildings. Nearly half of energy usage in buildings is linked to maintaining the thermal comfort of the inhabitants. Therefore, finding solutions that are not only technically but also economically feasible is of utmost importance. Though much research has been conducted to address this issue, most solutions are still costly for developing countries to implement practically. This study endeavors to find a less expensive yet straightforward methodology to achieve thermal comfort while conserving energy. This study takes a broader view of multiple habitat-related CO 2 emission issues in developing regions and describes a hybrid solution to address them. New technologies and innovative concepts are being globally examined to benefit from the considerable potential of PCMs and their role in thermal energy storage (TES) applications for buildings. The current study numerically investigates the thermal response of a hybrid building envelope consisting of PCM and local organic waste materials for low-cost low-energy buildings. The local organic waste materials used are those whose disposal is usually done by burning, resulting in an immense amount of greenhouse gases. In the first phase, different waste materials are characterized to determine their thermophysical properties. In the second phase, a low-cost, commonly available PCM calcium chloride hexahydrate, CaCl 2 ·6H 2 O, is integrated with a brick and corn husk wall to enhance the thermal storage in the building envelope to minimize energy consumption. Temperature distribution plots are primarily used for analysis. The results show a marked improvement in thermal comfort by maintaining a maximum indoor temperature of 27 °C when construction is performed with a 6% corn husk composite material embedded with the PCM, while under similar conditions, the standard brick construction maintained a 31 °C indoor temperature. It is concluded that the integration of the PCM layer with the corn husk wall provides an adequate solution for low-cost and low-energy buildings.

Keywords: phase change material (PCM); thermal energy storage (TES); numerical simulation; thermal comfort; built environment; carbon emissions; sustainable materials; TRNSYS; ANSYS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/12/3544/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/12/3544/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:12:p:3544-:d:574849

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().