Influence of envelope insulation materials on building energy consumption

doi:10.1007/s11708-017-0473-7

Front. Energy

2017, Vol. 11

Issue (4) : 575-581 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-017-0473-7

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Influence of envelope insulation materials on building energy consumption

Junlan YANG(

), Jiabao TANG

School of Energy and Safety Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, China

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Abstract

In this paper, the influence of different external wall insulation materials on the energy consumption of a newly built apartment in Germany is investigated. Three types of insulation materials commonly used in Germany including mineral fiber, polyurethane, and vacuum insulation panel are chosen for the case studies. An energy analysis model is established to clarify the primary energy use for production of the insulation materials and for building space heating. The calculation results show that the energy consumption for insulation material production increases with the insulation thickness, whereas the energy use for space heating decreases with the insulation thickness. Thus, there exists an optimum thickness to get the lowest total energy consumption for each kind of insulation material. The ascending order of the total energy consumption of the three materials is mineral fiber, polyurethane, and vacuum insulation panel. However, the optimum insulation thicknesses for the three insulation materials show a verse order at a certain heat transfer coefficient of the base envelope. The energy payback time (EPT) is proposed to calculate the payback time of the primary energy use for insulation material production. Mineral fiber has the shortest time, followed by polyurethane and vacuum insulation panel. The EPTS is 10, 19 and 21 years, respectively when the heat transfer coefficient of the base envelope is 0.2 W/(m²·K). In addition, the simulated results show that the theoretical value and the simulated value are basically identical.

Keywords building envelope insulation materials energy consumption payback time

Corresponding Author(s): Junlan YANG

Just Accepted Date: 25 April 2017 Online First Date: 27 May 2017 Issue Date: 14 December 2017

Cite this article:

Junlan YANG,Jiabao TANG. Influence of envelope insulation materials on building energy consumption[J]. Front. Energy, 2017, 11(4): 575-581.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-017-0473-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2017/V11/I4/575

Tab.1 Properties and production energy demand of insulation materials

Fig.1 Energy consumption for mineral fiber

Fig.2 Energy consumption for polyurethane

Fig.3 Energy consumption for vacuum insulation panel

Fig.4 Comparison of total energy consumption

Fig.5 The optimum thickness of the insulation

Fig.6 Change of the reduced heat losses

Fig.7 Change of the energy payback time

Fig.8 Simulated photograph of building studied

Fig.9 Comparison of the theoretical and the simulated total energy consumption for the polyurethane

Fig.10 Comparison of the theoretical and the simulated total energy consumption for the vacuum insulation panel

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