Aerogel is a super insulation material and it has absorptivity to solar radiation. Indoor heat gain through aerogel glazing system and its temperature distribution depend strongly on the climatic conditions and geographical position of a building. In this paper, a dynamic heat transfer model and an optical model for granular aerogel glazing system are developed and validated through an experiment. By employing the validated model, the applicability of aerogel glazing system in various climates has been evaluated. By comparing the total heat loss in heating season, it is found that aerogel glazing system has great energy saving potential in Severe Cold Region and Temperate Region. The comparative analysis of total heat gain in cooling season indicates that aerogel glazing system in Hot-Summer Warm-Winter Region performs slightly better than the commonest double glazing system, but inferior to low-e double glazing system. In Cold Region and Hot-Summer Cold-Winter Region, there both have heating and cooling seasons all year round. The sum of total heat loss and total heat gain is used to evaluate the annual applicability. The results show that aerogel glazing system is suitable to apply in Cold Region and in the south and north orientations of Hot-Summer Cold-Winter Region. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.