Analysis of energy retrofit system using latent heat storage materials applied to residential buildings considering climate impacts

Weather data is an important factor to evaluate the accurate energy performance of the building. However, the objectivity of the results from simulations conducted in South Korea is under debate because only the weather data is based on four locations provided. Therefore, this study demonstrated the importance of the accurate weather data and analyzed suitable PCM applications to be applied for effective building energy savings when accurate weather data were used. In this study, the building energy performance of residential buildings using a PCM is evaluated based on the test reference year (TRY) from ISO 15927-4 and the existing weather data (EWD) of 19 major meteorological locations. According to the analysis results, when the energy performance is analyzed using the existing weather data, the results of the other regions are calculated based on the weather data of the four regions. Therefore, the values of each regions are similar because the geographical characteristics and the climate conditions of each regions are not properly reflected in the results. On the other hand, the energy performance of building based on TRY was accurately calculated by reflecting geographical characteristics and the climate zones proposed by the South Korean government. Consequently, the suitable melting temperature of PCM is different in each region for building energy savings, and the effective energy saving in the building with PCM can be realized based on this study.