Phase Change Material Based Thermal Storage for Energy Conservation in Building Architecture

Scientists all over the world are in search of new and renewable energy sources. One of the options is to develop energy storage devices, which are as important as developing new sources of energy. Thermal energy storage systems provide the potential to attain energy savings, which in turn reduce the environment impact related to energy use. Infact, these systems provide a valuable solution for correcting the mismatch that is often found between the supply and demand of energy. Latent heat storage is a relatively new area of study and it received much attention during the energy crisis of late 1970’s and early 1980’s where it was extensively researched for use in solar heating systems. When the energy crisis subsided, much less emphasis was put on latent heat storage. Although research into latent heat storage for solar heating systems continues, recently it is increasingly being considered for waste heat recovery, load leveling for power generation, building energy conservation and air conditioning applications