Phase Change Material for Improving Building Thermal Comfort in Kurdistan

The Kurdistan region of Iraq suffers from relatively high summer temperature which leads to overheating in office buildings where there is little to no air-conditioning installed. In summer, the temperature rises to around 45-53 °C which can be unbearable to building occupants. The high temperature can affect occupant thermal comfort and causes health issues. Phase chance materials (PCM) are considered as a useful passive cooling method that absorbs excessive heat when the room is relatively hot and releases the stored heat when the room temperature becomes less hot. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using PCM to reduce the overheating of offices in Kurdistan region and to analyze potential factors that will affect the building temperature. The factors include environment-related (location of the building, climate change) and construction related (location of the PCM, insulation, heavyweight/lightweight construction). The potential outcome of this research may provide useful guidance about using PCM in office buildings in Kurdistan region for architects and engineers to decide when and where to use PCM. The building simulation is performed using DesignBuilder software where different types of PCM are investigated. Results from the building simulation show that PCM can reduce cooling energy consumption by about 1% as compared to when no PCM is used.