IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-024-54967-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global and regional perspectives on optimizing thermo-responsive dynamic windows for energy-efficient buildings

Author

Listed:
  • Yuan Gao

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Jacob C. Jonsson

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • D. Charlie Curcija

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Simon Vidanovic

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Tianzhen Hong

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Abstract

Architectural thermo-responsive dynamic windows offer an autonomous solution for solar heat regulation, thereby reducing building energy consumption. Previous work has emphasized the significance of thermo-responsive windows in hot climates due to their role in solar heat control and subsequent energy conservation; conversely, our study provides a different perspective. Through a global-scale analysis, we explore over 100 material samples and execute more than 2.8 million simulations across over two thousand global locations. World heatmap results, derived from well-trained artificial neural network models, reveal that thermo-responsive windows are especially useful in climates where buildings demand both heating and cooling energy, whereas thermo-responsive windows with optimal transition temperatures show no dynamic features in most of low-latitude tropical regions. Additionally, this study provides a practical guideline and an open-source mapping tool to optimize the intrinsic properties of thermo-responsive materials and evaluate their energy performance for sustainable buildings at various geographical scales.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuan Gao & Jacob C. Jonsson & D. Charlie Curcija & Simon Vidanovic & Tianzhen Hong, 2025. "Global and regional perspectives on optimizing thermo-responsive dynamic windows for energy-efficient buildings," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54967-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54967-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54967-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-54967-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54967-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.