One more cool idea: setting translucent Phase Change Materials (PCM) directly against your windows. PCMs are wax-like material that have a high latent heat of f

One more cool idea: setting translucent Phase Change Materials (PCM) directly against your windows. PCMs are wax-like material that have a high latent heat of fusion (energy it takes to change the phase of material i.e solid -> liquid). Because latent heat change occurs at a constant temperature, the PCM acts as a thermal storage when solar energy or ambient temperature increases, and then releases the heat during the evenings. At my (architecture/research) office, my colleague coded a 3D FEM to model the way this interacts with different geometries so we could investigate how to regulate the thermal storage capacity of a PCM surface. I'm fascinated by PCMs, although he seems to think that the resulting temperature dampening is too little[1] to have broad application in architecture... [1] Liquid -> gas phase change has a higher latent heat of fusion and might be a way to solve this I think. It would require larger volumes, or a way to safely contain higher pressure, but similar to fridge or AC systems, this should provide a couple of orders of magnitude greater heat storage.