Techno-economic assessment of the impact of phase change material thermal storage on the energy consumption and GHG emissions of the Canadian Housing Stock

Responsible for 17% of all energy consumption and 16% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada, the residential sector presents substantial opportunities for reducing both energy consumption and GHG emissions. Being one of the highest per capita energy consumers in the world, there is increasing pressure on Canada to reduce both. Amongst the numerous options to reduce energy consumption in the residential sector is the large-scale adoption of active and passive solar technologies in the Canadian housing stock (CHS). In earlier publications, the authors have investigated the techno-economic feasibility of large-scale adoption of window and glazing modifications, window shading devices and solar domestic hot water systems in the CHS as retrofit measures. In this paper, the focus is on the adoption of thermal storage using phase change material (PCM) in the CHS as a retrofit measure. The results indicate that applying PCMs with melting temperature of 23°C to the eligible houses reduce energy consumption GHG emissions of the Canadian housing stock by about 2.5%. The economic feasibility results demonstrate the impact of fuel costs, as well as interest and energy price escalation rates on payback period. The economic results indicate that upgrading houses to incorporate PCM storage in the province of New Brunswick is more feasible than other provinces.