The Effect of Transition Hysteresis Width in Thermochromic Glazing Systems

Copyright © 2013 Michael E. A. Warwick et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Thermochromic glazing theoretically has the potential to lead to a large reduction in energy demand in modern build-ings by allowing the transmission of visible light for day lighting whilst reducing unwanted solar gain during the cool-ing season, but allowing useful solar gain in the heating season. In this study building simulation is used to examine the effect of the thermochromic transition hysteresis width on the energy demand characteristics of a model system in a variety of climates. The results are also compared against current industry standard glazing products. The results sug-gest that in a warm climate with a low transition temperature and hysteresis width energy demand can be reduced by up to 54 % compared to standard double glazing