The potential of phase change materials in

mitigating cooling load of buildings in UAE

..............................................................................................................................................................

Yasir Rashid† , Mohammed Ziauddin, Bobby Mathew and Fadi Alnaimat*

Department of Mechanical Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551,

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article-abstract/14/4/568/5593704 by Universidad del Norte user on 04 February 2020

United Arab Emirates
............................................................................................................................................
Abstract
Integration of phase change materials (PCM) into building elements is explored extensively in the last decade
to reduce air-conditioning demand for indoor thermal comfort. The PCM could absorb and release thermal
energy as latent heat in a narrow temperature range. Several experimental studies reported energy saving
and indoor temperature drop in summer conditions. However, the matter is sparsely researched in the
environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a region of high heat flux throughout the year. The current
research provides an overview of the integration of PCM in buildings for indoor thermal comfort and energy
saving in the UAE. The research highlights the problems of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), e.g.
efficiency drop. The significance of the PCM application in the built environment and its research gap is
highlighted by reporting all the previous findings on the topic including the application of PCM in glazing,
concrete and BIPV.

Keywords: building energy efficiency; indoor thermal comfort; building-integrated photovoltaics; phase
change materials
∗ Corresponding author:

falnaimat@uaeu.ac.ae Received 14 February 2019; revised 26 April 2019; accepted 19 June 2019
................................................................................................................................................................................

1 INTRODUCTION but still it transmits heat indoors significantly. Figure 1 shows

Buildings consume almost 40% of the global energy consumption,
of which roughly 80% is used in air conditioning (heating/cooling
based on the climatic conditions) [1]. According to an estimate,
cooling load in Al Ain city of United Arab Emirates (UAE) will
increase by 23% based on the increase in ambient temperature
by 5.9◦ C due to global warming [2]. There is an urgent need to
reduce energy consumption in buildings. Glazing is an important
building component that has the maximum thermal transmit-
tance value (U-value) among other elements, but the presence
of glazing in the design of buildings cannot be compromised.
U-value of single glazing may go up to 4.8 W/m2 K, which is
significantly higher than the recommended values for building
materials [3]. For instance, the U-value of 10-cm thick fiberglass
insulation is 0.4 W/m2 K [3]. The higher is the U-value, the poor is
the material in isolating indoor environment from harsh outdoor
climatic conditions. More precisely, U-value is the measure of
thermal energy transfer per unit area across the materials with
the difference of 1◦ C on both sides, so a lesser is the U-value,
greater is its thermal insulation property. However, double glazing
and triple glazing concept have reduced the U-value of glazing,
the representation of double-layered glazing with an air cavity
in between the two transparent glass layers [3]. It represents
how heat is lost from indoor thermally comfortable space to the
outdoor cold environment. Exactly opposite mechanism happens
in hot climates where heat is transmitted from outside to inside
causing thermal discomfort.
One option to improve the thermal characteristics of glazing is
to add transparent phase change materials (PCM) in between two
layers of glazing. Building envelops, another building component,
play a vital role in energy demand of the building because these
components are the first barrier between the indoor thermal
comfort zone and outdoor harsh environment. The contribution
of facades in the energy performance of the building is more
significant in high rise buildings, which is obvious due to
higher facade surface area compared to roof [4]. Desired
functions of a building facade are ventilation, natural and
uniform daylighting, visibility to outdoor for psychological effects
and reduced solar heat gain indoor. On the other side, the
esthetics of the facades is the demand for architecture. In a
practical scenario, all these desired characteristics may be
contradicting. The solution is to find an optimal way that fits best

† YasirRashid, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0984-6489
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2019, 14, 568–575
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which
permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
doi:10.1093/ijlct/ctz042 Advance Access publication 18 October 2019 568

Figure 1. Heat loss mechanism through glazing in cold climate [3].
to the esthetics and functionality of the building. Furthermore,
the solution suits best for energy saving. Efforts are made to
optimize the building facades for energy saving by offering
different designs including double skin facades [5], ventilated
facade [6], opaque multilayer facade [6], inclusion of insulation
and thermal mass [4], facade albedo [7], integration of PCM [8],
photovoltaic (PV)-integrated facades [9] and modular building
facades [10].
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) technology is replac-
ing conventional building envelopes, and it has the potential
to produce 840 terawatt hours of electricity, which is almost
22% of European 2030 annual electricity demand [11]. Ventilated
BIPV has been investigated for thermal management of PV to
enhance its conversion efficiency. A temperature drop of 5–10◦ C
is reported in the case of natural ventilated BIPV as compared
to the conventional BIPV [12]. A recent study investigated the
combined effect of the installation of heat pipe-based building
facade-integrated PV-thermal system in the climatic conditions of
Hong Kong. Newly designed facade can reduce heat transmission
by 23.2% annually as compared to the conventional brick wall.
The thermal and electrical efficiency of the system was 34.7 and
9.8%, respectively [13].
PCM have the potential to absorb and release a large amount of
energy in a very narrow temperature range due to its latent heat
of fusion [14]. The materials are least investigated in the climatic
conditions of UAE, although the energy consumption per capita
of UAE is ranked in top countries. The paper summarizes the
results of the experimental studies conducted in the UAE and
highlights the research gaps to be addressed by the researchers.
The paper advocates the need for further research in the applica-
tion of PCM in buildings for energy conservation.
The potential of phase change materials
2 APPLICATION OF PCM IN THE BUILT
ENVIRONMENT OF UAE
The subsequent sections include the climatic conditions of the
UAE and the amount of energy consumption in the residential
sector. It also summarizes different methodologies to use PCM
to reduce indoor cooling load demand and to reduce surface
temperature.
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2.1 Energy requirement in buildings of the UAE
Climatic conditions of the UAE are very harsh, and the condition
is considered an arid climate. Temperatures in summer in the
coastal cities rise up to 48◦ C with the humidity level of 90%,
while in southern cities like Al Ain, the temperature may go up
to 50◦ C. Figure 2 shows the yearly weather data of Al Ain city
in UAE including solar radiation, air temperature and relative
humidity issued by the Directorate of Meteorology of Abu Dhabi
[15]. The mean air temperature remains in the range of 32.2–
35.5◦ C from April to September. The air temperature of coastal
cities (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) is estimated much higher than
this due to building materials, congestion, less foliage, multiple
reflections of radiations, anthropogenic heat caused by vehicles
and air conditioning. Further, the effect of high levels of humidity
makes the living conditions worst to breathe in. The region has a
lot of potentials to harness solar energy because of its availability
around the year. The range of the monthly average total solar
radiation is 375 W/m2 in December to 590 W/m2 in June as shown
in Figure 2.
According to a report, above 37% of the total energy in UAE
is consumed in residential buildings only [16] as shown in
Figure 3. The proportion of energy consumption in the residential
sector increased at a rate of 4% from 2009 to 2014. Further, it
is predicted that the proportion of energy use in the building
sector will increase at the rate of 5% till 2020, making an
overall energy consumption of 56.4 terawatt hours in residential
buildings only [16], indicating a quick response to curtail the
issue.
Figure 2. Weather data of Al Ain, UAE [15].
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2019, 14, 568–575 569
Y. Rashid et al.
Figure 3. Total electricity consumption and residential percentage of the total [16].
2.2 Classification of PCM
Primarily, PCMs are categorized into organic, inorganic and
eutectics. Organic PCMs include paraffins and non-paraffins,
while inorganic PCMs include salt hydrates and metallics.
Eutectics could be mixture of organics and inorganics [14].
Desired characteristics of the PCMs for buildings and investigated
materials among all categories are summarized in [14] with the
associated advantages and disadvantages of each. The phase
transition temperature of the most of these materials is available
in the operation range of buildings. An important feature in PCM
for building application is the selection of melting point of PCM.
Ideally, the melting point should be as close to the required indoor
thermal comfort as possible. However, in hot climate, PCM with
this much melting point (let say 27◦ C) may not regenerate itself
for next cycle during night-time. Eventually, if the PCM is in
liquid state before the start of next day, it will transfer more heat
Figure 4. Experimental set-up for transparent glazing incorporating PCM [17].
570 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2019, 14, 568–575
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to indoor space as compared to the building without PCM and
hence increasing the indoor air-conditioning demand.
2.3 Application of PCM in glazing
The use of PCM in windows and glazing is least studied in
UAE. However, it has the potential to decrease U-value; hence,
it can reduce heat transmission. The only experimental study by
Jain and Sharma [17] investigated the use of transparent PCM
in window to reduce heat gain indoors without compromising
the transparency function of the windows. Experimental set-
up of the research is shown in Figure 4. The effect of thickness
ranging from 4 to 30 mm on the transmittance of natural
light was investigated with the additional benefits of damping
and delaying heat loads [17]. Solar transmittance decreased
by almost 7.7% by increasing thickness from 4 to 30 mm.

Transparency of the PCM is still better than water at the thickness
of 15 mm. Additionally, the transparency level of the PCM
is almost equivalent to that of toughened glass with low iron
content [17]. The idea has a lot of potential in energy saving
and passive thermal management of the building; however,
the concept has not been investigated in depth to include
other influencing parameters including diurnal and seasonal
performance.
Giovannini et al. modeled double-glazed window for visual
comfort integrating PCM for the climatic conditions of Abu
Dhabi. The simulation was carried out considering the solid state
of the PCM only because the optical properties of liquid PCM
are quite similar to that of specular glass. Input conditions to
the model were a south-facing wall with glazing at the clear sky
day. The study reported that the PCM transmitted more daylight
to the indoor space as compared to the specular glass [18]. The
authors stated that the increase in daylight transmission did not
increase the visual comfort at different geographical latitudes. It
was observed that the zenith angle and sun position have more
effect on visual comfort as compared to the geographical location
and climatic conditions [18].
Figure 5. Schematic diagram and the experimental set-up of the concrete blocks, with construction layers and the test chamber [19].
The potential of phase change materials
2.4 Use of PCM in concrete
The application of PCM in a multilayered arrangement in concrete
blocks without proper caging/leak proofing is investigated in out-
door experiments in Al Ain, UAE [19, 20]. It is not recommended
to use PCM in concrete because it leaks in the liquid state
causing structural instability and vulnerability to fire. The research
investigated the effect of the placement of the PCM layer among
other layers of polystyrene insulation and air cavity on the back-
surface temperature of concrete blocks and on the reduction of
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indoor temperature. Schematic diagram and experimental set-up
are shown in Figure 5. One of the small chambers was reference
called chamber A without PCM, while the other two chambers
with different position of PCM layer were named chambers B and
C. The temperature profiles and energy saving for these chambers
were denoted by the subscripts of α, β and γ , respectively.
Figure 6 represents the drop in indoor temperature in the case
of chambers B and C as compared to chamber A. The curves
are an average of 14-day experimental data. At 07:00, indoor
temperature in the reference chamber was less than the other two
because of the heat retention in the previous night, which is a
typical function of PCM if not regenerated properly.
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2019, 14, 568–575 571
Y. Rashid et al.

damping and delaying was investigated by Ghazal and Zurigat

[22]. By mimicking climatic conditions of UAE to the model,
the system was developed. The research reported that the peak
cooling load can be delayed by 3 hours, and the magnitude of the
peak can be reduced by 5.2 W/m2 [22]. Ghazal et al. modeled the
integration of microencapsulated PCM into concrete as a layer to
reduce the thickness of the standard insulation material without
altering the energy-saving capacity of the insulation [23]. Three
standard insulations were compared with the application of PCM,

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and the research concluded that 0.5% PCM addition can reduce
the thickness of insulation material (16, 11 and 6 cm for all direc-
tions) by 5, 4 and 2 cm, respectively [23]. The problem of PCM
leakage was resolved by developing a novel coating layer around
PCM-filled expanded clay matrix. The efficacy of the coating layer
was evaluated rigorously, which confirmed it for the application in
buildings [24, 25]. The use of PCM was also compared with waste
materials for its effectiveness in reducing heating/cooling load of
buildings in the extreme weather conditions [26].
Recently, PCM RT-31 procured from Rubitherm, Germany,
was encapsulated into geopolymer with the intended purpose of
robust coating and leak proofing of the PCM in molten state
Figure 6. Evolution of the indoor temperature for the reference chamber A (Tαi), [24, 25]. In one set of experiments, lightweight expanded clay
chamber B (Tβi) and chamber C (Tγ i) for an average of the 14 days, while was used to absorb PCM in its porous structure and eventually
the difference of the indoor temperatures of the test chambers B and C from the coated with geopolymer [27]. While in the other experiments, the
reference chamber is presented in the corresponding inset graphs [19].
PCM was absorbed in polyurethane foam and eventually coated
with geopolymer [28]. These developed capsules were embedded
in geopolymer concrete to investigate the reduction in thermal
However, the temperature started lagging for chambers B and transmittance. It was reported that PCM capsules in expanded
C with the value of 0.3 and 1 hour, respectively, due to higher clay reduced the thermal transmittance (U-value) of the geopoly-
thermal mass of concrete exploiting the latent heat of fusion effect mer concrete from 2 to 0.9 W/m2 K [27]. Using PCM capsules
of PCM. Indoor temperature drop in blocks B and C with respect in polyurethane matrix, the U-value was reduced from 2 to 1.1
to B was 1.4 and 3.1◦ C, respectively. As revealed in the inset graph, W/m2 K [28].
the magnitude of temperature drop through multilayered block C The impact of PCM on the energy saving by reducing cool-
was much higher during day time, but it was negative during the ing load in hot climate was theoretically calculated by Rashid
night. In block B, the magnitude of temperature drop was less, et al. recently based on the experimental investigation using two
but it was always positive. The results imply that configuration
C can be used effectively for office buildings with night-time
natural ventilation of building, while configuration B is helpful in
reducing cooling load in all type of buildings.
Elnajjar modeled brick containing PCM by feeding ambient
conditions of UAE to the model [21]. The effects of different melt-
ing point of PCM on energy efficiency, peak temperature shaving
and peak shifting were investigated. The research analyzed 1-day
simulation and continuous 7-day simulations and reported that
the results for 1-day simulation were misleading [21]. According
to 1-day results, n-octadecane (nO-27, with a melting point of
27◦ C) performed best among all. However, the actual results were
totally opposite when simulated for consecutive 7 days. Cooling
load reduction in the case of different PCM can be observed in
Figure 7 where nO-27, nE-37 and P11-47 represent n-octadecane
with a melting temperature (T m ) of 27◦ C, n-eicosane with T m of
37◦ C and paraffin wax with T m of 47◦ C, respectively. It is evident
that the maximum energy consumption was in the case of original
brick while cooling load reduced by 10% for nO-27, 16% for nE- Figure 7. The daily indoor heat flux profile for a brick with different types of
37 and 30% for P11-47 [21]. The use of PCM for peak temperature PCM comparing to the reference case of brick without PCM [21].

572 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2019, 14, 568–575

 The potential of phase change materials

degradation and reducing life span [29]. Energy performance of

PV decreases with the increase in temperature. For every 30◦ C rise
in temperature, 1–2% conversion efficiency of PV is dropped [29].
In the array system, rare side of the PV is in contact with
air, so heat is dissipated through convection and radiation. For
BIPV, more heat is accumulated because the PV module is stacked
onto building element without any air passage and heat is not
dissipated into the ambient through convection. Several ways are
investigated to mitigate this problem while the integration of PCM

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Figure 8. Monthly energy efficiency enhancement achieved by PV-PCM through
the PV cooling [32].
different PCMs, i.e. PCM-RT31 and PCM-RT42 [26]. RT31 and
RT42 had melting points of 31 and 42◦ C, respectively. Both were
paraffin based and procured from Rubitherm, Germany. It was
reported that RT31 can reduce cooling load up to 45.4%, while
RT42 can reduce cooling load up to 43.3% in the climatic condi-
tions similar to the UAE [26].
2.5 Application of PCM in BIPV
The PV cells have a tendency to absorb 80% of the solar irradiance
that strikes the surface of PV. A small proportion of the absorbed
energy is converted into electricity and the residue is converted
into heat [29]. The generated heat is accumulated at the surface of
PV resulting in lowering of power efficiency, accelerated thermal
is the most optimal solution. Hassan et al. conducted experiments
in Al Ain, UAE [8, 30], by integrating PCM container at the rare
side of BIPV and examined its effects on the surface temperature
drop of PV, enhancing the energy conversion efficiency of PV,
drop in indoor temperature and drop in indoor cooling demand.
Using PCM, the power output of the PV was increased by 7.2%
at the maximum, while cooling effect was enhanced by 9.5% by
blocking the heat transmission to the indoor space [8]. In further
experiments, water was circulated through the PCM integrated
at the rare side of PV to extract thermal energy for water heating
purposes. The system has benefits to drop the surface temperature
of PV and to exploit the thermal energy for additional benefits
[31]. In the year around experiments and simulated models, effi-
ciency enhancement of PV in the range of 4.3% in May to 7.2% in
October was achieved as shown in Figure 8 [32]. Table 1 provides
a succinct comparison of the studies that are conducted in the
multilayered concrete or PV-PCM system in the UAE.
3 RECOMMENDATIONS AND FUTURE WORK
Based on the critical review of the available literature, PCM has
the potential to harness solar energy in an efficient way in the

Table 1. Summary of energy saving by the application of PCM.

PCM used Melting point Heat capacity Thermal PV efficiency Temperature Indoor cooling Thermal
(◦ C) (KJ/kg) conductivity enhancement drop load reduction energy
(W/m.K) harnessinga

BIPV-PCM [8] Paraffin-based 41 145 0.2 7.2% 5◦ C 9.5% NA

PCM RT-42
Layered concrete [19, 20] Paraffin-based 41 145 0.2 NA 8.5% 44% NA
PCM RT-42
Layered concrete [22] NA 27 33.5 0.17 NA NA 5.9 W/m2 , NA
3-hour
peak delay
Concrete embedded with Paraffin RT-31 31 110 0.2 NA 8◦ C NA NA
PCM capsules in expanded
clay [26]
Concrete embedded with Paraffin RT-31 31 110 0.2 NA 12.6◦ C NA NA
PCM capsules in
polyurethane foam [27]
Yearly PV-PCM [32] Paraffin-based 41 145 0.2 5.9% 13◦ C NA NA
PCM RT-42
BIPV-PCM with water Paraffin-based 41 145 0.2 1.3% 9◦ C NA 41%
circulation [31] PCM RT-42

a Water heating by circulating through PCM.

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2019, 14, 568–575 573

Y. Rashid et al.
United Arab Emirates, a region of high solar flux throughout the
year. As the building facades and modern architecture demands
glass, the thermal transmittance of the windows and glazing could
be reduced with the application of transparent PCM in double-
glazed or triple-glazed windows without affecting the func-
tionality of the glazing and without compromising the modern
architecture. There are very limited studies on this subject,
and it is recommended to explore it in fine detail. Several
studies investigated the use of PCM in multilayered concrete and
embedding PCM capsules into the concrete structure. However,
the scale of the study is not comparable to the real-sized buildings.
In Spain, the potential of active and passive systems on energy
efficiency were tested experimentally on the real-sized cubicles
[33]. A similar scale research is needed to evaluate and benchmark
the options according to the climatic conditions and yearly
temperature patterns of UAE.
Leakage of PCM is a critical problem in the application of
PCM in buildings, which can reduce the building life. However,
the leakage problem is solved by coating the PCM capsules with
geopolymers. The coating is very robust and easily integratable
into the building materials with very strong interfacial bonding
[24]. Further refinement could be proposed to produce bulk
production of PCM capsules as the currently devised method is
only for small-scale production. One most important problem in
the application of PCM in UAE environment is the regeneration
of the PCM. In a case of improper selection of the PCM melting
point, the PCM may not solidify during night-time when ambient
temperature at the night is higher than the congealing point of
the PCM. In such scenario, PCM will affect adversely on building
energy efficiency [19]. A proposed method is to design the air-
conditioning ducting system in a way that exhaust air of the
buildings should pass over the building facades. The exhaust air is
normally at room temperature, which is significantly lower than
the congealing point of the PCM. This exhaust is also necessary for
maintaining the good air quality, and it can serve the dual purpose
in this design.
4 CONCLUSION
Integration of PCM into building elements in the climatic con-
ditions of UAE has been assessed. Through careful literature
survey, only two studies were found on the application of PCM
in glazing. Further, findings of both studies are contradicting to
each other. The contradiction requires further in-depth investi-
gation of the pertaining matter. Application of PCM in layered
geometry of concrete is also investigated in the environment of
UAE by numerical modeling and experimentations. However, the
scale of the experimental set-up used in the research was not
comparable to that of real-sized buildings. Also, research was
carried out for specific days, rather it should include all seasons
to cover diurnal and seasonal performance to ultimately calculate
the yearly energy performance. It is reported that PCM has the
potential to reduce cooling load of buildings by 43% approxi-
mately. PCM capsules embedded into geopolymer concrete also
574 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2019, 14, 568–575
reduced the temperature up to 12.5◦ C on the back surface of
concrete, which directly emits heat to the indoor space through
radiation and convection. Thermal transmittance (U-value) of the
geopolymer is also reduced improving the insulation properties of
the materials. Lastly, the impact of PCM integration into PV was
analyzed in UAE, which has proven to be an excellent technology
for conversion efficiency enhancement of PV (7.2% up) with
additional benefits of cooling enhancement (9.5% up) and water
heating. As the region of study is full of solar insolation around the
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year, remarkable benefits can be achieved with the advancement
of this technology in the built environment.
FUNDING
The research was supported by the UAE University through the
start-up research grant (31N265).
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