Abstract
The rational use of energy has motivated research on improving the energy efficiency of buildings, which are responsible for a large share of world consumption. A strategy to achieve this goal is the application of optimized thermal insulation on a building envelope to avoid thermal exchanges with the external environment, reducing the use of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. In order to contribute to the best choice of insulation applied to an industrial shed roof, this study aims to provide an optimization tool to assist this process. Beyond the thermal comfort and cost of the insulation, some hygrothermic properties also have been analysed to obtain the best insulation option. To implement this optimization technique, several thermo-energetic simulations of an industrial shed were performed using the Domus software, applying 4 types of insulation material (polyurethane, expanded polystyrene, rockwool and glass wool) on the roof. Ten thicknesses ranging from 0.5 cm to 5 cm were considered, with the purpose of obtaining different thermal comfort indexes (PPD, predicted percentage dissatisfied). Posteriorly, the best insulation ranking has been obtained from the weights assigned to the parameters in the objective function, using the technique of the genetic algorithm (GA) applied to multi-criteria selection. The optimization results showed that polyurethane (PU) insulation, applied with a thickness of 1 cm was the best option for the roof, considering the building functional parameters, occupant metabolic activity, clothing insulation and climate conditions. On the other hand, when the Brazilian standard was utilized, rock wool (2 cm) was considered the best choice.
Highlights
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are the main causes of high-electric energy consumption in buildings in the world [1,2]
Energy savings and payback periods analysis were performed for expanded polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane foam (PU) and the results showed better performance of polyurethane foam for the cases studied
April and November showed the best thermal comfort index, with Predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) values varying between 12% and 13%
Summary
Ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are the main causes of high-electric energy consumption in buildings in the world [1,2]. In order to reduce this energy consumption, the application of thermal insulation on the envelope is an efficient strategy to avoid thermal exchanges with the external environment, thereby increasing the energy efficiency of buildings. The concept of energy efficiency in buildings refers to providing thermal comfort for the occupants with low energy consumption. The design of an energy-efficient building should take into account the external environmental conditions such as geographic location, position, and the climate of the region. Other internal factors are of great importance, such as the purpose of the building, periods of use, and activities of the occupants. Besides these conditions, the materials used on the envelope
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