The building sector contributes immensely to the total energy consumption, particularly for its space conditioning and demotic hot water. Evidence from a variety of research suggests that the built environment contributes substantially to global energy consumption and to the production of greenhouse gases that impact climate change: buildings use about 40% of the world-wide total energy and contribute up to 35% of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). To resolve this, efficient utilization of energy sources is considered to be a potential alternative to meet the increasing energy demand in buildings. Statistical data convey that the power generation from renewables grew by 17% in 2017, contributing to 8% of the global electricity. Given the current concerns about declining conventional energy resources and climate, it is evident that there is a growing requirement to incorporate a sustainable design into energy buildings capable of managing and maintaining the required indoor environment while minimizing the environmental impact. At present, the energy requirements in buildings are majorly met from non-renewable sources and the contribution of renewable sources is still in its initial stage. Meeting the peak energy demand by non-renewable energy sources is highly expensive for the utility companies and it critically influences the environment through GHG emissions. In addition, renewable energy sources are inherently intermittent in nature. Thus, thermal energy storage has emerged as a promising solution for storing substantial energy for building applications. This study provides a comprehensive examination of thermal energy storage systems with a focus on their application in buildings, and then demonstrate its application through few case studies in cold climate and warm climate.

Dr. Qiang Zhang is a full professor at the Chemical Engineering Department, Tsinghua University, China. He is awarded as Zhaowu Tian award from International Society of Electrochemistry, Science and Technology Award for Chinese Youth, and Distinguished Young Faculty of Ministry of Education. His current research interests are advanced energy chemistry and energy materials, including dendrite-free lithium metal anode, lithium sulfur batteries, and energy electrocatalysis, especially the structure design and full demonstration of advanced energy materials in working devices. He is the Advisor Editor of Angew Chem, Associate Editor of J Energy Chem & Energy Storage Mater. He is sitting on the advisory board of Joule, ChemSocRev, Chem Commun, J Mater Chem A, Adv Energy Mater, Adv Funct Mater, Matter, Energy Adv, Sci China Chem, Mater Futures, and so on. He is the deputy head of the expert group on energy storage and smart grid of the national key research and development plan. He has won the first prize of Natural Science of the Ministry of Education and the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.

As one of the most important applications of the element, Li batteries afford emerging opportunities for the exploration of Li bond chemistry. In this talk, the historical development and concept of the Li bond are reviewed, in addition to the application of Li bonds in lithium-sulfur batteries. The Li bond was described in the context of Li batteries, including discussions of sulfur cathodes, liquid electrolytes, and Li metal anodes. Such discourse on the chemistry of the Li bond can provide fruitful insight into the fundamental interactions within lithium-sulfur batteries and thus deliver a deeper understanding of their working mechanism.

Prof. Donghai Wang is a Professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering and Institute of Energy and the Environment at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Donghai Wang is a well-known researcher in developing new materials and techniques for energy storage technologies. He has been an ardent researcher responsible for leading multiple-organization interdisciplinary teams, executing over $22M grants as principal investigators and co-investigators, and overseeing 50 doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. He has co-authored around 120 peer-reviewed journal articles with an H-index of 76 (Google Scholar) and given over 100 talks at professional conferences and universities. He was identified as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2018-2022 according to Web of Science. Dr. Wang is a prolific inventor with over 20 applications filed in the fields of nanomaterials and related applications to energy storage techniques.

Achieving an electrified and decarbonized world hinges upon establishing a resilient grid and advancing power systems with exceptional efficiency, reliability, functionality, and form factor. With current efforts in electrification and decarbonization in transportation and industry, there is a clear need to develop high-performance, safer, and more sustainable energy storage technologies to advance current grid and power systems. Material development plays an important role in realizing sustainable, high-performance energy storage technologies such as next-generation Li-ion, Li metal, Na-ion, and solid-state batteries. In this talk, I will give an overview of energy storage technologies currently used in transportation and stationary applications, cover the development of electrode materials for next-generation Li-ion batteries, and present approaches to developing high-performance solid-state batteries. I would like to demonstrate the research effort aiming to build knowledge and understanding of critical electrochemical processes and to employ the desired features in electrochemical energy storage technologies to meet the requirements of electrification and decarbonization across the world.