14Night purge ventilation is an effective technique for passive cooling, which is typically used 15 in office buildings with the aim of reducing the daytime temperature, and thereby reducing 16 the cooling load of HVAC systems. This method uses the cool of the night to release the 17 warmth stored in the thermal mass during the day. That is, this system optimizes the energy 18 storage properties of thermal masses to provide thermal comfort in interior spaces. The 19 purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the use of night purge ventilation in 20 conjunction with PCMs on the indoor thermal conditions of a typical office building located 21 in hot-arid climates. In this article, the impacts of optimal night ventilation on the heat 22 flushing operation, inside room temperature and element thermal conditions are all evaluated. 23It was found that combining PCMs with night ventilation will significantly improve indoor 24 thermal conditions; however, results vary for different days in general and different structural 25 elements in particular. Moreover, the application of PCMs can reduce night ventilation 26 system problem of occupants feeling cold in the morning, whereas in the majority of work 27 hours the temperature of inside element faces is approximately 0.5°C lower than the room 28 temperature, both of which improve thermal comfort. 29 30 31 Keywords 32 Night ventilation, Phase change materials, Office buildings, Hot-arid climates, Indoor thermal conditions 33 34 35 36

The increasing level of greenhouse gas emissions and the rise in fuel prices are the main reasons for efforts to effectively use various sources of renewable energy. One of the effective ways to reduce the consumption of fuel is by using thermal energy storages. The use of a latent heat storage (LHS) system using phase change materials (PCMs) is an effective way of storing thermal energy and has the advantages of high-energy storage density and isothermal nature of the storage process. Nowadays, for using lightweight materials in buildings, architects need lightweight thermal storages, hence the use of PCMs started. In this chapter, the authors discuss the benefits of using PCMs as thermal mass instead of the common thermal mass. Next, the characteristics of PCMs, their categories, and building applications that can use PCMs as thermal mass are discussed. Finally PCMs can provide benefits for lightweight buildings as thermal mass for reducing building loads and fuel consumption.

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Decision-making in architectural design is a complex process that includes factors such as aesthetics, environmental, and user needs (Gercek and Arsan, 2019). Utilizing computational simulation tools is one way to gather quantitative data efficiently to help architects in this process (Reinhart and Fitz, 2006). Recent literature on decision-making in architectural design states that it is significant for architects to create a link between their professional experience gained from previous work and knowledge provided from simulation tools (Gercek and Arsan, 2019). Daylight simulation tools are regularly accepted in the market, since it is difficult to evaluate the quantity of daylight in a space through a simple equation (Reinhart and Fitz, 2006). Whether the daylight simulation is done in-house or by a consultant, it is imperative for architects to have empirical knowledge about how the numerical results relate to the user experience. In this article, a set of methods is proposed to improve designers’ understanding of daylight simulation results. The study has been conducted in July and August of 2019. The methods used in this study are survey, daylight simulation, and daylight measurement via environmental monitoring. The participants who are designer/occupants in a design firm in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, participate in an online survey asking about their productivity and visual comfort in the space. Daylight simulation analyzes the illuminance levels in the office space with Ladybug and Honeybee - plug-ins of Rhino Grasshopper. Furthermore, the actual illuminance in the space is measured by Omron 2JCIE-BL01 sensors in certain locations for additional empirical evidence. A correlational analysis is conducted between the questions of the survey, its results shows that there is no statistically significant correlation between visual comfort and employees’ perception of productivity in the summer. Also, the data gained from the sensors and survey show that the daylight is not equally distributed across the office, ranging from 100-1500 lux. Ultimately, by sharing the findings with the participants in the meeting, while conducting the realtime daylight simulation, they can relate results to their own experience in space. It helps them improving their design knowledge and process for meaningfully integrating daylight in their design.