Effectiveness of Using Phase Change Materials on Reducing Summer Overheating Issues in UK Residential Buildings with Identification of Influential Factors

Marine Auzeby, Shen Wei, Chris Underwood, Jess Tindall, Chao Chen, Haoshu Ling and Richard Buswell
Additional contact information
Marine Auzeby: Civil Engineering and Urban Planning Department, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, Villeurbanne F-69621, France
Shen Wei: Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Chris Underwood: Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Jess Tindall: Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Chao Chen: College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Haoshu Ling: College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Richard Buswell: School of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: The UK is currently suffering great overheating issues in summer, especially in residential buildings where no air-conditioning has been installed. This overheating will seriously affect people’s comfort and even health, especially for elderly people. Phase change materials (PCMs) have been considered as a useful passive method, which absorb excessive heat when the room is hot and release the stored heat when the room is cool. This research has adopted a simulation method in DesignBuilder to evaluate the effectiveness of using PCMs to reduce the overheating issues in UK residential applications and has analyzed potential factors that will influence the effectiveness of overheating. The factors include environment-related (location of the building, global warming/climate change) and construction-related (location of the PCM, insulation, heavyweight/lightweight construction). This research provides useful evidence about using PCMs in UK residential applications and the results are helpful for architects and engineers to decide when and where to use PCMs in buildings to maintain a low carbon lifestyle.

Keywords: phase change material (PCM); thermal storage; overheating; residential buildings (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: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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