Feasibility and optimization of aerogel glazing system for building energy efficiency in different climates

Aerogel glazing system has become a promising energy-efficient window glass owing to its extremely low thermal conductivity and high visual transmittance. Two newly developed aerogel glazing systems (viz. #4 and #5) and three common glazing systems (viz. clear glass #1 and insulating glass #2 and #3) are investigated on the component heating and cooling load of a model building to evaluate their feasibility in various climates in China by using eQuest code. The building energy efficiency of 20, 11 and 9% could be obtained in Harbin, Beijing and Shanghai, respectively, as clear glass #1 were replaced with aerogel glazing system #5. The results demonstrated that the aerogel glazing system was extremely feasible in Severe Cold Region and significantly feasible in Cold and Hot-summer Cold-winter Regions. Effects of heat transfer coefficient (U) and shading coefficient (SC) of the glazing system on building energy loads were evaluated to further optimize glazing systems. The results demonstrated that the total heating load in colder climate reduced by 73% as the U of glass was decreased from 5.5 to 0.5 W/(m2 K). The total cooling load in warmer climate reduced by 16% as the SC was increased from 0.916 to 0.423. The findings could be of great potential in the selection and optimization of the glazing system in different climate zones aiming at building energy efficiency.