BUILD SIMUL (2015) 8: 225 – 238

DOI 10.1007/s12273-014-0204-5

Techno-economic assessment of the impact of phase change material

thermal storage on the energy consumption and GHG emissions of
the Canadian Housing Stock

Research Article
Sara Nikoofard1 (), V. Ismet Ugursal1, Ian Beausoleil-Morrison2

1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dalhousie University, 1360 Barrington Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 4R2 Canada
2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel by Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 Canada

Abstract Keywords
Responsible for 17% of all energy consumption and 16% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in phase change material,
Canada, the residential sector presents substantial opportunities for reducing both energy techno-economic assessment,
consumption and GHG emissions. Being one of the highest per capita energy consumers in the energy consumption,
world, there is increasing pressure on Canada to reduce both. Amongst the numerous options to GHG emissions,
reduce energy consumption in the residential sector is the large-scale adoption of active and Canadian housing stock
passive solar technologies in the Canadian housing stock (CHS). In earlier publications, the authors
have investigated the techno-economic feasibility of large-scale adoption of window and glazing
Article History
Received: 12 May 2014
modifications, window shading devices and solar domestic hot water systems in the CHS as
Revised: 22 September 2014
retrofit measures. In this paper, the focus is on the adoption of thermal storage using phase change
Accepted: 10 October 2014
material (PCM) in the CHS as a retrofit measure. The results indicate that applying PCMs with
melting temperature of 23˚C to the eligible houses reduce energy consumption GHG emissions of
© Tsinghua University Press and
the Canadian housing stock by about 2.5%. The economic feasibility results demonstrate the
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
impact of fuel costs, as well as interest and energy price escalation rates on payback period. The
2014
economic results indicate that upgrading houses to incorporate PCM storage in the province of
New Brunswick is more feasible than other provinces.

1 Introduction CHS as retrofit measures. In this paper, the focus is on the

adoption of thermal storage using phase change material in
Responsible for 17% of all energy consumption and 16% of the CHS as a retrofit measure.

Architecture and Human

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada (OEE 2007),
the residential sector presents substantial opportunities for
reducing both energy consumption and GHG emissions.
Being one of the highest per capita energy consumers in the
world (annual energy consumption 311 GJ/capita, 10 721
PJ total) (The World Bank 2014), there is increasing pressure
on Canada to reduce both. Amongst the numerous options
to reduce energy consumption in the residential sector is the
large-scale adoption of active and passive solar technologies
in the Canadian housing stock (CHS). In earlier publications,
the authors have investigated the techno-economic feasibility
of large-scale adoption of window and glazing modifications,
window shading devices (Nikoofard et al. 2014a) and solar
domestic hot water systems (Nikoofard et al. 2014b) in the
E-mail: s.nikoofard@dal.ca
1.1 Use of thermal storage in residential buildings to
reduce energy consumption Behavior
Solar radiation that enters a building through glazed apertures
(such as windows and sky-lights) is captured and stored in
thermal mass (such as walls, floors and furniture), and is
then gradually transmitted to the occupants and indoor air
through conduction, convection and radiation.
Thermal mass enables building materials to absorb, store,
and later release significant amounts of heat. Concrete and
masonry buildings that are uninsulated or that have insulation
outside of the thermal mass have a unique energy-saving
advantage because of their inherently large thermal mass.
226 Nikoofard et al. / Building Simulation / Vol. 8, No. 2

These thermally-massive materials absorb energy slowly
and hold it for much longer periods than do less massive
materials, delaying and reducing heat transfer through the
building leading to two important results: (i) there are
fewer spikes in the heating and cooling requirements, since
thermal mass slows the response time and moderates
indoor temperature fluctuations, and (ii) thermal mass can
shift energy demand to off-peak time periods when utility
rates are lower.
To take advantage of the favourable characteristics of
thermal mass in buildings, three strategies are used to store
heat in building components: distributed thermal mass,
thermal storage wall (also called the Trombe wall) and phase
change materials (PCM).
Dodoo et al. (2012) applied simulation to contrast the
performance of wood-framed (i.e. low thermal mass) versus
concrete (i.e. high thermal mass) construction for residential
buildings in Sweden. Thermal mass was found to have an
insignificant impact on heating loads during the winter,
and a modest impact during the spring and autumn. When
integrated over the year, it was found that the space heating
loads could be reduced by 0.5% to 2.4% with a significant
increase in thermal mass. Further evidence of the impact of
thermal mass on heating loads in cold climates is provided
by Karlsson et al. (2013). They observe that passive energy
storage through high thermal mass can significantly affect
the timing of space heating demands, but that the impact
on the integrated energy consumption is small in most cases.

Distributed thermal mass Trombe wall

Balaras (1996) describes how the storage of energy in the In cold climates, as long as the number of sunny days is
outer envelope and internal mass of a building can reduce sufficiently large, Trombe walls provide a potential to reduce
peak cooling loads and can shift the cooling load to a later energy consumption for heating as well as cooling. The
point in the day when it may be feasible to reject this energy Trombe wall system shown in Fig. 1, introduced by Trombe
using natural ventilation, thus reducing cooling energy et al. (1977), consists of a south facing massive wall (in the
requirements. In the same paper, Balaras also contends that northern hemisphere), which is commonly painted black
the building’s distributed thermal mass could realize energy for maximum solar absorption, double (or triple) glazed
benefits during the heating season. Experimental and glass cover and two vents located at the top and bottom of
simulation studies conducted to evaluate the effect of high the wall to enhance natural convection.
thermal mass on cooling energy consumption of buildings Numerous studies on the operation and performance
in warm climates (Burch et al. (1984) for Maryland, Ruud of Trombe wall type thermal storage systems have been
et al. (1990) for Florida, and Brown (1990) for New York, conducted (for example: Trombe et al. 1977; Balcomb
USA; Ogoli (2003) for Nairobi, Kenya; Gregory et al. (2008)
for Callaghan, Australia) found that high mass buildings
consume less cooling energy than similar lightweight
buildings with similar thermal resistance, and that thermal
mass is more effective when positioned on the interior side
of the insulation.
Using simulations, Kossecka and Kosny (2002) evaluated
the potential energy savings that could be realized in various
climates of the USA by exposing a wall’s massive material
layers to the interior building space, thus effectively increasing
the thermal mass that can provide energy storage. In the
cooler climates of Denver, Minneapolis, and Washington
in the USA the location of the massive layers was found to
have a much greater impact on cooling loads than on heating
loads. Heating load reductions in the order of 1%–4% were
found. In another simulation-based study, Aste et al. (2009)
observed that, depending upon climate and building
characteristics, the impact of the thermal inertia of exterior
walls on heating and cooling loads could be negligible in
some cases, while significant in others. For the specific
case of a building in Milan (Italy), they found that annual
space heating demands could be reduced by about 10% by
substituting low-thermal-inertia walls with high-thermal-
intertia walls. Fig. 1 Schematic of Trombe wall during a day and a night in winter