Sustainable Materials for a Passive Indoor Climate Control in Buildings

The success of strategies and techniques based on “passive” indoor climate control (PICC) in buildings, as an effective alternative to energy-consuming and global warming-inducing HVAC systems, depend on various factors:

(a) potentiality of local climate variables for controlling indoor thermal conditions;

(b) building design methodology based on a passive approach from the early phases;

(c) knowledge by the professional HVAC engineers of locally-applicable PICC techniques;

(d) local market availability of PICC technologies;

(e) innovative materials that can be used to improve the effectiveness of PICC systems.

Some of these, such as Phase Change Materials (PCM), can work to control indoor thermal conditions for both heating and cooling, depending on the values of the temperature at which the phase change occurs for energy to be released to (solidification), or absorbed from (melting), the environment. PCM can be applied to a building envelope, as well as to internal partitions with surfaces exposed to an airflow path. Other types, such as Transparent Insulation Materials (TIM) and Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIP), can be applied only to the building envelope for reducing space heating load. Similarly, photochromic, thermochromic and electrochromic materials characterize the transparent envelope components. Furthermore, cool materials and coatings are studied to reduce the local increase in temperature arounds buildings by increasing surfaces’ reflection factor.

This Special Issue focuses on the application of the above-mentioned types of materials and possibly others not yet applied in current building technology. For the former types, the Special Issue aims at presenting case studies of buildings where such materials have been applied. For materials in the experimental phase, the Special Issue aims at the presentation of test results. In both cases, articles accepted for this Special Issue will highlight material characteristics and possible critical application aspects, particularly concerning indoor climate control efficiency, duration of performance, and cost-effectiveness.

Prof. Dr. Mario Grosso
Dr. Giacomo Chiesa
Guest Editors

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