Aerogel granulate glazing facades and their application potential from an energy saving perspective

•Numerical simulation of energy demands in office buildings.•Investigation of facades with aerogel granulate glazing systems at spandrels.•Aerogel granulate glazing facades can improve energy performance.•Cooling dominated climates are the best candidates for aerogel glazing systems.•Heating dominated climates need a combined aerogel and triple glazing system.

Aerogel granulate glazing systems for energy efficient buildings have various promising properties, including their thermal insulation properties and translucent features. In this study, the energy performance of aerogel granulate glazing systems was evaluated by considering an office facade consisting of a translucent aerogel granulate glazing system at spandrels. The results indicate that such a glazing facade can achieve a lower energy demand than a double glazing facade in cooling dominated climates, such as Tokyo and Singapore. It is also possible to secure better energy savings owing to increased daylight passing through translucent spandrels. In heating dominated climates, such as Oslo, the aerogel granulate glazing facade does not attain the same performance as the glazing facade currently most popular, triple glazing facades. However, a combination of aerogel and triple glazing systems may offer an energy efficient facade for cold climates. From an energy saving perspective, aerogel granulate glazing systems have the potential to become a solution in not only cold climates, but also hot and warm climates. These new findings may contribute to new architecture techniques.