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Sustainability
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Dynamic and Interactive Thermal Energy Storage Solutions for Buildings
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Dynamic and Interactive Thermal Energy Storage Solutions for Buildings

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 13599

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Huijun Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: building energy efficiency; building thermal engineering; thermal insulation; radiant cooling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Jia Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: net-zero energy buildings; renewable energy flexibility; energy storage; energy design optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The building and construction sector accounted for about 36% of global final energy consumption and 37% of energy-related carbon emissions in 2021, the largest contributor of all sectors. Over 60% of residential and 50% of commercial building energy is demanded for thermal use globally. It is therefore significant to maintain effective thermal energy use in buildings as a crucial source for carbon emission mitigation and energy sustainability. Thermal energy storage is an important pathway that stocks thermal energy by heating or cooling a storage medium so that the stored energy can be used at a later time for heating and cooling applications and power generation. Advanced thermal energy storage technologies can help balance the energy demand and supply on a daily, weekly, and even seasonal basis to enhance energy reliability and flexibility. Moreover, increasing attention is being given to the phase-change materials for thermal energy storage in buildings. The interactive integration between thermal energy storage and renewable energy sources such as solar energy and biomass also accelerates its application to improve renewable energy penetration. It is significant to find dynamic and interactive thermal energy storage solutions for buildings to achieve building energy flexibility for achieving carbon neutrality.

Considering the interest of this topic, we are organizing a Special Issue entitled “Dynamic and Interactive Thermal Energy Storage Solutions for Buildings”, aimed at reporting the most recent new finding from researchers and sector professionals in the scope of relevant themes. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

  • Advanced thermal energy storage technologies for buildings;
  • Phase-change materials for thermal energy storage in buildings;
  • Thermal energy storage integration with renewable energy;
  • Thermal energy storage and building energy flexibility.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Huijun Wu
Dr. Jia Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • thermal energy storage
  • phase-change material
  • renewable energy integration
  • building energy flexibility

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1136 KiB  
Article
AI and Big Data-Empowered Low-Carbon Buildings: Challenges and Prospects
by Huakun Huang, Dingrong Dai, Longtao Guo, Sihui Xue and Huijun Wu
Sustainability 2023, 15(16), 12332; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612332 - 13 Aug 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4722
Abstract
Reducing carbon emissions from buildings is crucial to achieving global carbon neutrality targets. However, the building sector faces various challenges, such as low accuracy in forecasting, lacking effective methods of measurements and accounting in terms of energy consumption and emission reduction. Fortunately, relevant [...] Read more.
Reducing carbon emissions from buildings is crucial to achieving global carbon neutrality targets. However, the building sector faces various challenges, such as low accuracy in forecasting, lacking effective methods of measurements and accounting in terms of energy consumption and emission reduction. Fortunately, relevant studies demonstrate that artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technologies could significantly increase the accuracy of building energy consumption prediction. The results can be used for building operation management to achieve emission reduction goals. For this, in this article, we overview the existing state-of-the-art methods on AI and big data for building energy conservation and low carbon. The capacity of machine learning technologies in the fields of energy conservation and environmental protection is also highlighted. In addition, we summarize the existing challenges and prospects for reference, e.g., in the future, accurate prediction of building energy consumption and reasonable planning of human behavior in buildings will become promising research directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamic and Interactive Thermal Energy Storage Solutions for Buildings)
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38 pages, 12883 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Degradation on Cold Climate Building Energy Performance: A Comparison with Hot Climate Buildings
by Ahmad Taki and Anastasiya Zakharanka
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6372; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086372 - 7 Apr 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2570
Abstract
The issues of reducing energy consumption in buildings and their decarbonisation are currently among the most pressing. However, such an important aspect of the problem under discussion as the impact of unavoidable degradation processes on energy demand in buildings remains poorly understood. In [...] Read more.
The issues of reducing energy consumption in buildings and their decarbonisation are currently among the most pressing. However, such an important aspect of the problem under discussion as the impact of unavoidable degradation processes on energy demand in buildings remains poorly understood. In addition, there are only a limited number of practical guidelines that can be used to take this factor into account at the design stage and during the further operation of buildings. The aim of this work was to assess the potential impact of component degradation and ageing on heating energy consumption in buildings, including insulated glass units, thermal insulation, airtightness, heat recovery of mechanical ventilation systems, and photovoltaic modules. The detached and apartment buildings were considered to be in a cold climate in the context of the Republic of Belarus. The study was based on simulation research using EnergyPlus. As a result, it was found that a possible increase in heating energy consumption might reach 17.6–61.2% over 25 years in detached houses and up to 23.6–89.8% in apartment buildings. These indicators turned out to be higher than the previously identified values for cooling energy consumption in a hot–humid climate. Based on the findings, recommendations for considering the degradation factor in cold climates in practice were developed, which were compared and integrated into the author’s existing guidelines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamic and Interactive Thermal Energy Storage Solutions for Buildings)
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20 pages, 6267 KiB  
Article
Experimental Research on a Solar Energy Phase Change Heat Storage Heating System Applied in the Rural Area
by Shilei Lv, Jiawen Zhu and Ran Wang
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2575; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032575 - 31 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2397
Abstract
Thermal energy storage technology can effectively promote the clean heating policy in northern China. Therefore, phase-change heat storage heating technology has been widely studied, both theoretically and experimentally, but there is still a lack of engineering application research. According to the characteristics of [...] Read more.
Thermal energy storage technology can effectively promote the clean heating policy in northern China. Therefore, phase-change heat storage heating technology has been widely studied, both theoretically and experimentally, but there is still a lack of engineering application research. According to the characteristics of heating load in northern rural areas, a kind of solar heating system using phase-change materials (PCMs) for heat storage is proposed. Furthermore, a farmhouse is used to demonstrate the practical engineering applications of the heating system. The heating system consists of the phase-change heat storage device (PCHSD), solar thermal panels, and a floor radiant heating terminal, which can realize the effective utilization of solar energy. Considering solar power generation capacity, heating load characteristics of farm buildings, and the local electricity price model, four potential operation modes of the heating system are established. Then, the corresponding control strategies are proposed for the four operating modes. The actual operation data of the heating system under different operating modes were collected continuously, and the application effect of the heating system was evaluated from the aspects of thermal efficiency of the device, the renewable energy efficiency, thermal comfort level, and economy. The experimental results show that: (1) The thermal efficiency of the device is mainly affected by the heating load, which can reach more than 80% during the test period; (2) the renewable energy efficiency of the system is positively correlated with the solar radiation intensity, and the maximum can reach 100% when the solar radiation is sufficient; (3) the system maintains excellent thermal comfort in all conditions, with the average and the highest thermal comfort time accounting for 80% and 100%, respectively; (4) compared with the average level of existing clean heating technology, the annual operating cost of the system is reduced by 27.3%, and the economy is significant. The results show that the system achieves effective performance during the test period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamic and Interactive Thermal Energy Storage Solutions for Buildings)
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34 pages, 13491 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Degradation on a Building’s Energy Performance in Hot-Humid Climates
by Ahmad Taki and Anastasiya Zakharanka
Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1145; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021145 - 7 Jan 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3176
Abstract
To date, energy consumption in buildings accounts for a significant part of the total amount of energy consumed worldwide. The effect of ageing and degradation of various building components is one of the least studied reasons for the possible increase in energy consumed [...] Read more.
To date, energy consumption in buildings accounts for a significant part of the total amount of energy consumed worldwide. The effect of ageing and degradation of various building components is one of the least studied reasons for the possible increase in energy consumed in buildings over time. In addition, there is a clear lack of practical guidelines that would help specialists take this factor into account. In this paper, an attempt is made to assess a possible change in the energy performance of buildings due to the degradation of their various components (insulated glass units, thermal insulation, airtightness, solar reflectivity of the building envelope, and photovoltaic modules). Detached and apartment buildings in hot-humid climates with reference to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were considered. The study was based on simulation research using EnergyPlus, in which the initially collected data on the possible deterioration of the properties of various building components was used for dynamic thermal simulation of selected buildings. The results showed an increase in energy consumption for cooling in detached houses might reach up to 9.53–38.4% over 25 years for more airtight and insulated buildings and 12.28–34.93% for less airtight and insulated buildings. As a result, certain patterns of changes in energy consumption for cooling buildings were established, based on which a set of guidelines was developed. These guidelines can help specialists in various fields better understand the trends in the energy performance of buildings under the influence of degradation processes and take appropriate measures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamic and Interactive Thermal Energy Storage Solutions for Buildings)
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