Use of Phase Change Materials in future buildings.

The project aims to build the foundation for the application of phase-change materials to improve the temperature conditions during summer in future buildings. Building heat capacity is very important to avoid the risk of overtemperatures during summer and reduce cooling needs. A buildings active heat capacity can be increased significantly by using phase change materials (PCM), which accumulate significant amounts of energy even at small temperature increases when the material changes phase from solid to liquid (like ice melting).
With the new energy provisions in building regulations from April 2006, the expected tightening of rules in 2010 and 2015 along with the planned introduction of demands on passive house level, it is necessary to keep future buildings comfortable in summer without requiring additional electrical energy to mechanical ventilation and cooling.