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Buildings in regions with hot summers and cold winters face significant challenges in maintaining thermal comfort and minimizing energy consumption due to the low thermal inertia and high heat transfer rates of traditional building envelopes, which result in excessive heating and cooling demands. Conventional materials, such as concrete and brick, exhibit poor thermal storage capacity, leading to substantial temperature fluctuations and increased reliance on active HVAC systems. The integration of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) into building envelopes presents a viable strategy to mitigate these issues by enhancing thermal mass, moderating indoor temperature variations, and reducing peak energy loads. This paper investigates the potential of PCM integration in residential buildings located in Jingzhou City, China, characterized by extreme seasonal temperature variations. Through EnergyPlus simulation software, this study models a typical residential building with various scenarios for PCM placement and phase change temperatures. The building model includes detailed parameters such as wall composition, insulation levels, and local climate data. The model evaluates the impact of PCM placement in the middle and inner layers of the building walls, with phase change temperatures set at intervals of 15°C to 35°C. Simulation results indicate that integrating PCM significantly reduces both heating and cooling energy consumption. When placed in the middle or inner wall layers, PCM reduced cooling energy consumption by up to 46% at a phase change temperature of 20°C and heating energy consumption by up to 79% at 15°C. Total energy consumption was reduced by up to 47%, with a minimum energy consumption of 15.12 kWh/m² for both heating and cooling.
Congxiang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.