Life Cycle Assessment of Innovative Materials for Thermal Energy Storage in Buildings

The politically endorsed reduction of greenhouse gas emissions entails the transformation of thermal energy systems towards renewable energies, especially in the building sector. This comes along with a demand in energy storage, as there is a time offset between energy availability and demand. As sensible heat storages induce major losses and have limited energy density, current water-based solutions are only partially sufficient to meet these demands. Within the project “Speicher-LCA” the environmental performance of a variety of innovative materials available for energy storage in buildings is assessed. The project provides the first extensive comparison of environmental profiles of various thermal energy storage materials, including phase change, thermochemical and sorption materials. The specific performances in the storage cycle are taken into account. All results will be publically accessible through a spreadsheet tool including a comprehensive set of materials, components as well as their integration into different building types.