Energy performance analysis of thermal insulating plaster in the different climate zones

Abstract

The buildings sector accounts for about 76% of electricity use and 40% of all United States primary energy use and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it essential to reduce energy consumption in buildings in order to meet national energy and environmental challenges. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is crucial for reducing energy demand and mitigating the environmental impact of the built environment. This paper presents an analysis of the benefits of using Thermal Insulating Plaster (TIP) in buildings. Our hypothesis is that TIP can directly reduce thermal bridging and infiltration, leading to more energy-efficient buildings. We compared the cooling and heating loads for different climate zones when TIP is applied to the wall and ceiling. Our results indicate that TIP can reduce the cooling load by 1–1.6% and the heating load by 1–8.7% depending on the climate zone. On average, using TIP can decrease the cooling energy demand by 1.2% and the heating energy demand by 3% across all regions. TIP is more effective in regions where heating is the dominant energy load of the building due to its porous structure that blocks heat transfer. Unlike other insulation materials, TIP offers a valuable trade-off between energy improvement and the diverse applications of conventional plasters.