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R. Saxena et al.
13.1 Introduction
Energy exists in many forms and keeps transforming from one form to another.
Energy utilization per person determines the economic and living standard of people
within any country. Therefore, countries are aiming at increased rate of energy production year after year. The major problem to this is that there are limited resources
available; thus, it is insufficient to just produce and use more energy. Thus, there is
a need to utilize the available knowledge and technology for extracting energy from
alternate sources, efficiently. The aim is to reduce the use of fossil fuel and replace
them with utilization of alternate sources of energy.
Energy storage (ES) systems are an important component of alternate energy
harnessed through solar, due to its intermittency. These systems store solar energy
in different forms i.e. heat, chemical, biological, mechanical etc. Of these thermal
(heat) energy storage systems are most studied and implemented world-wide for
various applications. TES incorporation results in energy savings for cold climatic
conditions as reported by Mehling and Cabeza (2008). With buildings having 40%
share of the total electricity consumption (Saxena 2018), the focus is on reducing the
power consumption of buildings in India. For tropical countries like India, the major
power consumption during the greater part of the year is due to the cooling loads.
There are several technologies being studied for cooling load reduction in buildings.
This present study investigates the PCM implementation for buildings, as a passive
measure, to reduce the cooling loads during peak hours of the day.
This chapter aims at providing a formidable solution to rapidly increasing building
energy demands. The research emphasizes on careful selection of PCMs, as a passive
storage option, for heating/cooling load abatement in buildings. PCMs are carefully
selected based on their thermal characteristics, and mapped based on the climatic
conditions of the place. This study also brings out how researchers have tried to
incorporate PCMs within building elements followed by their assessment based on
temperature reduction and energy conserved.
It is observed that PCMs in general have lower thermal conductivity thus, reducing
their charge and discharge time. In order to ensure high rate of dispatchability of
PCMs, it is necessary to investigate methods to increase their thermal conductivity.
The nanoparticle dispersion is one such option which has also been discussed in this
study.
13.2 TES Materials for Application in Buildings
A number of studies are available right from 1981, when concept of TES implementation in buildings was conceptualized and numerical model for a room with phase
changing material (Kaushik et al. 1981) was developed. Further, a study in 1983, discussed the availability and application of different PCMs for storage of heat at low
temperatures (0–120 °C). This study also discussed about the corrosion resistance
R. Saxena et al.
13.1 Introduction
Energy exists in many forms and keeps transforming from one form to another.
Energy utilization per person determines the economic and living standard of people
within any country. Therefore, countries are aiming at increased rate of energy production year after year. The major problem to this is that there are limited resources
available; thus, it is insufficient to just produce and use more energy. Thus, there is
a need to utilize the available knowledge and technology for extracting energy from
alternate sources, efficiently. The aim is to reduce the use of fossil fuel and replace
them with utilization of alternate sources of energy.
Energy storage (ES) systems are an important component of alternate energy
harnessed through solar, due to its intermittency. These systems store solar energy
in different forms i.e. heat, chemical, biological, mechanical etc. Of these thermal
(heat) energy storage systems are most studied and implemented world-wide for
various applications. TES incorporation results in energy savings for cold climatic
conditions as reported by Mehling and Cabeza (2008). With buildings having 40%
share of the total electricity consumption (Saxena 2018), the focus is on reducing the
power consumption of buildings in India. For tropical countries like India, the major
power consumption during the greater part of the year is due to the cooling loads.
There are several technologies being studied for cooling load reduction in buildings.
This present study investigates the PCM implementation for buildings, as a passive
measure, to reduce the cooling loads during peak hours of the day.
This chapter aims at providing a formidable solution to rapidly increasing building
energy demands. The research emphasizes on careful selection of PCMs, as a passive
storage option, for heating/cooling load abatement in buildings. PCMs are carefully
selected based on their thermal characteristics, and mapped based on the climatic
conditions of the place. This study also brings out how researchers have tried to
incorporate PCMs within building elements followed by their assessment based on
temperature reduction and energy conserved.
It is observed that PCMs in general have lower thermal conductivity thus, reducing
their charge and discharge time. In order to ensure high rate of dispatchability of
PCMs, it is necessary to investigate methods to increase their thermal conductivity.
The nanoparticle dispersion is one such option which has also been discussed in this
study.
13.2 TES Materials for Application in Buildings
A number of studies are available right from 1981, when concept of TES implementation in buildings was conceptualized and numerical model for a room with phase
changing material (Kaushik et al. 1981) was developed. Further, a study in 1983, discussed the availability and application of different PCMs for storage of heat at low
temperatures (0–120 °C). This study also discussed about the corrosion resistance