Thermochemical energy storage systems are receiving an increasing attention due to their better performance in comparison with sensible and latent heat storage technologies. Thermochemical energy storage system components can be produced with additive manufacturing, which has – among the others – the advantage of being able to use waste materials for the fabrication of structures, thus increasing the sustainability of the process. Despite the potential advantages of such technology, the economic analysis of its use for building applications has yet to receive serious attention.

Given the above background, the project aims at investigating the potential market for building applications of thermochemical energy storage systems with components obtained from sustainable additive manufacturing. The analysis will focus on residential, rural and industrial/commercial buildings. At this purpose, an economic valuation will be carried out to elicit end-users' preferences and willingness to pay for building applications of thermochemical energy storage systems, by means of a choice experiment approach. The choice experiment will be embedded in a survey addressing a large sample of householders, owners of industries, commercial activities and agricultural activities at national scale. The sample will be stratified on the most important socio-demographics (age, education, genre, income, type of economic activity). The survey will also include questions related to respondents' socio-demographic characteristics and attitudinal/psychological aspects, with specific focus on propensity to adopt innovative products/solutions.

Collected data will be analyzed via econometric models (Discrete Choice Models) which will allow to: 1) elicit the determinants of end-users' preferences for building applications of thermochemical energy storage systems; 2) estimate willingness to pay values for such applications with specific reference to their fabrication with sustainable additive manufacturing; 3) explore the potential market segmentation, also accounting for end-users' characteristics; 4) forecast market shares for building applications of such technologies.

It is expected that such analysis will allow to provide answers to two crucial questions for the diffusion of the new technology: 1) are consumers interested in sustainable thermochemical energy storage systems with additive manufacturing components and, if so, are they willing to pay a premium for their use in building applications?; 2) what would be the market share for such technologies? Such information is crucial to involve industries/investors in the large-scale production of thermochemical storage systems with modules produced with sustainable additive manufacturing, thus promoting the diffusion of this technology. Furthermore, the results would allow to support the design of energy efficiency policies.