Quantitative evaluation of the thermal and energy performance of the PCM integrated building in the subtropical climate zone for current and future climate scenario

The effect of PCM on the thermal and energy performance of the building located in six cities of the subtropical climate zone under the present climate conditions was evaluated. Thereafter, the effect of climate change was assessed using a hybrid downscaling approach to generate future weather data. The thermal comfort in different seasons was evaluated through maximum temperature reduction (MTR) and maximum temperature fluctuation reduction (MTFR), while the building's energy performance was analysed utilising seasonal and annual energy consumption reduction (ECR). Finally, the influence of climate change on the building's energy performance was studied and compared using the Degree-Day Method (DDM) and energy simulations. Based on the MTR and MTFR results; overall, PCM 18 demonstrated superior performance during the wintertime, while PCM 30 was the best in the swing and summer seasons. Both DDM and energy simulations showed that under future climate scenario (2095), the cooling energy demand would rise, whereas the heating energy demand would drop. For all cities except for Zhengzhou and Islamabad, PCM 28-PCM 30 could be used as optimum PCMs for both current and future climate scenarios. The optimum PCMs resulted in the annual ECR values of up to 37% for current and future climate scenarios. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study evaluated the impact of PCM on the thermal and energy performance of buildings in six cities in the subtropical climate zone, and assessed the effects of future climate change using a hybrid downscaling approach. Different PCMs showed advantages in different seasons, with PCM 28-PCM 30 recommended for use in most cities. The energy performance of buildings is projected to see an increase in cooling energy demand and a decrease in heating energy demand under future climate scenarios.