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IMST 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 251 (2017) 012110 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012110
1234567890

Phase Change Materials as a solution to improve energy

efficiency in Portuguese residential buildings

C. Araújo1, A. Pinheiro1, M. F. Castro1, L. Bragança1

1
University of Minho, Department of Civil Engineering C-TAC, 4800 - 058
Guimarães, Portugal

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. The buildings sector contributes to 30% of annual greenhouse gas emissions and
consumes about 40% of energy. However, this consumption can be reduced by between 30%
and 80% through commercially available technologies. The consumption of energy in the
dwellings is mostly associated with the heating and cooling of the interior environment. One
solution to reduce these consumptions is the implementation of technologies and Phase Change
Materials (PCMs) for Thermal Energy Storage (TES). So, the aim of this work is to analyse the
advantages, in terms of decreasing energy consumption, associated with the application of PCMs
in Portuguese residential buildings. For this, eight PCMs with different melting ranges were
analysed. These materials were analysed through a dynamic simulation performed with
EnergyPlus software. The results achieved, showed that the materials studied allow to reduce up
to 13% of the heating needs and up to 92% of the cooling needs of a building located in the North
of Portugal, at an altitude higher than 100m.

1. Introduction
Progressive global energy demand is an increasingly important issue in terms of climate change and
energy supply. The world consumes large amounts of fossil fuels by driving climate change and reducing
fossil fuel reserves faster. One method to benefit the use of energy is to increase the building’s energy
efficiency. The European construction industry is responsible for about 40% of energy consumption [1].
This consumption is mainly associated with the heating and cooling of the indoor environment, in order
to obtain the best users thermal comfort. One solution to reduce these consumptions is the
implementation of phase change materials (PCMs) and technologies for TES.
PCMs can be used to store energy or control energy balances over a specific period of time. The use
of this kind of material for buildings heating and cooling has demonstrated to have a good performance
[2]. The phase change from solid to liquid occurs when there is an increase of temperature. The PCM
absorbs heat in an endothermic process and changes phase. Furthermore, the phase change from liquid
to solid arises when the temperature decreases and the PCM release heat in an exothermic process and
returns to its solid phase [2]. Through latent heat phase change, PCMs control temperatures in a specific
range of time [3]. Since the phase change temperature is close to the desired comfort temperature, the
energy used to change the phase of the material will lead to a more stable and comfortable indoor
environment. The use of PCMs also allows reducing peak cooling and heating periods and,
consequently, energy consumption spikes [3].

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IMST 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 251 (2017) 012110 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012110
1234567890

Over the last few years, several studies have been carried out in this area. Some of these are intended
for the analysis of different mixtures of mortars with direct incorporation of this type of materials [4]–
[9]. On the other hand, other authors dedicated themselves to the experimental and numerical analysis
of constructive solutions with an application of a layer of PCMs [10]–[12].
Portugal is one of the countries in Europe where there are a large number of cold deaths [13], [14].
For this reason, it is important to analyse solutions that can reduce the energy consumption of Portuguese
buildings and improve the indoor environmental quality of life. However, Portugal is also one of the
countries with the highest rate of energy poverty [15], [16]. For this reason, a cost-benefit analysis of
the application of PCMs will be carried out in a building located in the North of Portugal.

2. Methodology
The present study was carried out through the comparative analysis of the energy needs of one residential
building located in the North of Portugal. This analysis compared the energy performance of this
building with and without the application of a layer with different PCMs. It was considered the
application of macro encapsulated PCMs on the inner face of the exterior walls and on the inner face of
the roof. In total, the construction area, where the PCM was simulated, is 213 m2.
For the analysis of the energy needs, the comfort temperatures recommended by the Portuguese
thermal regulation [17] were considered: 18 ºC for the heating season and 25 ºC for the cooling season.
The building energy needs were calculated by using the EnergyPlus software and the conduction
finite differences heat balance algorithm.
Some authors [18], [19] had already performed the model validation and verification of this software
regarding the analysis of PCMs implemented in building walls and ceilings using the condition finite
differences heat balance algorithm. These authors have used a similar approach as dictated by ASHRAE
Standard 140 [20], which consists of analytical verification, comparative testing, and empirical
validation. According to these studies this model can be used with acceptable monthly and annual results
[18].
We analysed eight different PCMs commercialised by Rubitherm company [21]. These PCMs were
selected because they have a melting point close to the comfort temperatures of the heating and cooling
seasons: RT15, RT18, RT21, RT22, RT24, RT25, RT26 and RT28. The technical characteristics of these
materials are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. PCMs properties [21].

RT 15 RT18 RT21 RT22 RT24 RT25 RT26 RT28
Melting area (ºC) 10-17 17-19 18-23 20-23 21-25 22-26 25-26 27-29
Heat storage capacity (kJ/kg) 155 260 155 190 160 170 180 250
Specific heat capacity (kJ/kgºC) 2
Density solid (kg/l) 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.76 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.88
Density liquid (kg/l) 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.7 0.77 0.76 0.75 0.77
Heat conductivity (W/mºC) 0.2

2.1. Case Study

The case study selected to perform the parametric analysis is a detached single-family house located in
the North of Portugal. Portugal has around 3,500,000 buildings and the North is the geographic zone
with the largest number of buildings (around 1,200,000 buildings and 1,800,000 dwellings) [22].
Detached houses are one of the most common types of constructions in Portugal and the vast majority
of buildings (90.7%) [22].
The choice of the case study took into account the aim of simulating a building that was
representative of the constructive reality of the North of Portugal. However, it was attempted that the
geometry of the building was as simple as possible to facilitate dynamic simulation. In this way, we
selected a family house with two bedrooms and 110 m2, located in the North of Portugal, at an altitude

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 251 (2017) 012110 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012110
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of 100 m. According to the Portuguese legislation, the climatic region of this building is I1, V2 (the
most severe for winter and between the most severe, V1, and the mildest, V3 to summer).
In Figure 1 the geometry of the analysed building is presented. The living room (LR) and kitchen
(KIT) are facing south.

Figure 1. Case study geometry.

Table 2 presents some details of the case study building geometry.

Table 2. Case study geometry details

Room Orientation Room area (m2) Glazing area (m2)

Kitchen South / East 12 4,5
Living room South / West 28 9
WC1 North 5 0,3
Bedroom 1 North / West 16 4,5
Bedroom 2 North /East 20 4,5
WC2 East 9 0,3
Hall West 17 -

The building constructive solutions are presented in Table 1 and correspond to the typical
constructive solutions existing in Portugal between 1960 and 1990 (construction period of time to which
the largest number of existing buildings in Portugal corresponds). In the case of the exterior walls and
the roof, it was adopted an inner coating with plasterboard to ensure that the only difference between
simulations was the type of PCM applied.
It was also considered that the building was air conditioned through mobile heating and cooling
equipment with an efficiency of 100%.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 251 (2017) 012110 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012110
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Table 3. Construction solutions of the case study building elements.

Building element Construction solution U (W/m2.ºC)
Single masonry Wall with 22cm with 2 cm of plaster in
Exterior walls the outside and coated with a gypsum plasterboard 1.76
(1,3cm)
Single masonry Wall with 22cm with 2 cm of plaster
Interior walls 1.76
both sides
Roof Lightweight slab with false ceiling 2.8
Ground Floor Concrete slab covered with ceramic tile 1.65
Glazing Single glazing (6 mm) and wooden frame 4.1

2.2. EnergyPlus Model

In order to perform the dynamic simulations some approaches and considerations were made. The
simulation run period was considered to be one year and annual results were obtained. Regarding the
occupancy schedules, it was admitted that building was occupied during all day in the weekends and
from 7pm to 8am in the weekdays. When in the building, it was considered that people spend 15% of
their time in the WCs and hall and 85% of the time in bedrooms, kitchen and living room.
Additionally to the fixed shading in the South faced, it was considered that the windows have a
movable shading device (blind).This shading devices were considered to be open form 8 am to 7pm in
winter and 30% open in the same period during summer.
Table 4 present the lighting and electric equipment level and functioning schedules that have been
considered in the numerical model.

Table 4. Lighting and Electric Equipment design levels and functioning schedule.

Design level (W) Functioning Schedule

Lighting Electric Lighting Electric
Equipment Equipment
Kitchen 18 100 Until 7am 0,05 0,1
Living 47 150 Until 8am 0,3 0,3
room
WC1 12 50 Until 7pm 0 0,1
Bedroom 1 24 80 Until 8pm 0,6 0,6
Bedroom 2 30 80 Until 11pm 0,8 0,8
WC2 13 50 Until 12pm 0,4 0,4
Hall 20 40

Concerning the ventilation, the building was considered to be ventilated only by natural ventilation
by 1 air change per hour. This situation is common in the Portuguese residential buildings.
The acclimatization systems were modeled considering the EnergyPlus Ideal Load Air System. The
HVAC set points were defined to be 18ºC for heating and 25ºC for cooling.

3. Results

3.1. Energy Needs

Figure 2 presents the case study heating needs without PCM (Reference) with and without the
applications of the PCMs.
In the north of Portugal, either due to the weather or because of commonly used building solutions,
the heating needs of buildings are usually much higher than cooling needs. By analysing the heating
energy requirements, it was possible to verify that all PCMs analysed allowed to reduce the heating
needs by at least 10% of their initial value. The PCM that presented better results was the RT22 because

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IMST 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 251 (2017) 012110 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012110
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the application of this material allowed to reduce the heating needs in 8.22 kWh/m2.year, which
corresponds to a decrease of 13.2% in relation to the reference solution.

79,33
70,76 68,97 68,76 68,72 68,68 69,2 68,93 69,45
62,35
56,01 54,29 54,17 54,13 54,39 55,32 55,4 56,34

4,21 1,98 1,91 1,82 1,82 1,52 1,11 0,77 0,33

Reference RT 15 RT 18 RT 21 RT 22 RT 24 RT 25 RT 26 RT 28

Heating Needs (kWh/m2.ano) Cooling Needs (kWh/m2.ano)

Total Energy Needs (kWh/m2.ano)

Figure 2. Case study energy needs for reference solution and with PCMs.

Figure 2 shows that the initial cooling needs of the building were already relatively low. However,
the application of PCMs allow to greatly reduce the cooling needs. There were great advantages in the
application of the PCMs to the cooling station. The application of this type of material allowed to reduce
the cooling needs by at least 53% of its initial value. However, considering the best-performing solution
(RT28), there was a reduction in the energy consumption for cooling of 3.88 kWh/m2.year. Taking into
account the initial cooling needs, this value corresponds to an improvement of 92.2%.
Regarding the total energy needs it is concluded that the application of this type of technology leads
to a significant reduction on these index. Observing the situation where the PCM produced fewer effects
(RT15), it is possible to highlight that the energy needs decreasing its initial value by 11%. The solution
that allowed to obtain a greater reduction of the energetic necessities was the application of RT24. This
material allowed to reduce the energy needs in 10.65 kWh/m2.year, which corresponds to a percentage
decrease of 13.4%.
Other authors [10], [11], [23], [24] [25] have performed similar numerical analysis by incorporating
PCMs in walls and ceilings in buildings located in Porto. Although some of these authors have been
focused in different outputs (internal temperature variation, heating and cooling degree days), the results
can be compared. Regarding the energy consumption, these studies have also found advantages in the
incorporation of PCMs in buildings elements.

3.2. Optimized Solution

Taking into account the results obtained, a simulation was carried out in which the effects of PCMs were
maximised. So, it was tested one situation in which the PCM with better behaviour in the heating station
(RT22) was applied on the building roof and the PCM with better performance in the cooling station
(RT28) was applied on the exterior walls. However, it was verified that the improvement over the
situation with the best performance in terms of total energy needs was not significant (a decrease of only
0.01 kWh/m2.year was achieved).

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 251 (2017) 012110 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012110
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3.3. Economic Profitability

In 2010, Markets and Markets have launched a report called Advanced Phase Change Material Market:
Global Forecast (2010–2015)” [26] stating that the increasing demand for energy-saving and
environment-friendly technology is driving the growth of the global PCM market.
After analysing the energy savings, it was developed an analysis to understand if the application of
PCMs presents economic viability compared to the reference solution. As presented in Equation 1, the
building’s LCC was assessed according to the method proposed by the European Commission Delegated
Regulation No. 244/2012 of 16 January 2012 [27].
ఛ
(1)
‫ܥ‬௚ ሺ߬ሻ ൌ ‫ܥ‬ூ ൅ ෍ ൤෍ ቀ‫ܥ‬௔ǡ௜ሺೕሻ ൈ ܴௗ ሺ݅ሻ െ ܸ௙ǡఛ ሺ݆ሻቁ൨
௝ ௜ୀଵ

Where:
IJ - Period
Cg (IJ) - Global cost over the calculation period
CI - Initial investment cost for the measure j
Ca,I (j)- Annual cost during year i for measure j
Rd (i) - Discount rate for year i
Vf,IJ (j) - Residual value of measure j at the end of the calculation period

A discount rate (inflation) of 3% was also taken into account, as well as the evolution of the energy
costs. The energy prices predicted in EU energy trends to 2030, published by the European Commission
in 2009, were considered for the period between 2013 and 2030 [28]. The prices forecasted in the Energy
Road Map 2050 were used for the period between 2030 and 2046 [29].
Investment costs for the reference solution are estimated based on market analysis. The investment
costs for PCMs were provided by the manufacturer [21]. The PCM solution studied in the economic
analysis was the one with the best energy performance results.

Table 5. Economic analysis.

Investment Costs Operational Costs Life Cycle Costs
Reference €11,654 €40,228 €51,881
PCM (RT22 roof + RT28 wall) €36,882 €34,822 €71,704
Difference + €25,229 - €5,406 + €19,823

Table 2 presents that the initial investment that needs to be made in the solution with PCMs is more
than three times higher than the investment for the reference solution. In terms of operational costs, it is
possible to highlight that the solution with PCMs allows obtaining a reduction of about 13% in the
energetic invoice. However, regarding life cycle costs, it is clear that, for now, the decrease in
operational costs is not sufficient to cover the high initial investment.
Other authors have performed an analysis on the economic viability of incorporating PCMs in
building walls and ceilings [30], [31]. The results are greatly influenced by the type of PCMs, the
encapsulation technique, the building characteristics and use and mainly by the climatic conditions of
the building location. However, in Portugal and specifically in the North region, other authors [32] have
already come to the conclusion that, for now the pay-back time is still too long.
Nevertheless, although the incorporation of PCMs in buildings is still an expensive technology, it
could contribute for reduction in peak demand and potential reduction in energy consumption and
savings for buildings customers [33].

4. Conclusions
The application of PCMs has been discussed as a solution to reduce the high-energy building’s
consumption. In this work, eight different PCMs with melting points ranging from 15 ºC to 28 ºC were

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IMST 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 251 (2017) 012110 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012110
1234567890

analysed. This analysis was carried out through the dynamic simulation of the energy performance of a
building located in the North of Portugal with and without the application of this type of materials.
It was found that the materials studied led to a reduction of 13% in energy requirements for heating,
92% of energy requirements for cooling and 13% of total energy requirements. However, an analysis of
the economic profitability of this type of solution was carried out and it was verified that the high initial
investment is not compensated by the decrease in the operational costs, nowadays. Although significant
energy savings have been observed in the cooling station, they do not lead to economic profitability.
One of the reasons for this is related to the fact that the energy needs of the Portuguese buildings located
in the North, at an altitude higher than 100m, derive mainly from heating and not from cooling needs.

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Annex 17: advanced thermal energy storage through phase change materials and chemical
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