Optimization Research of Rural House’s Envelope Parameters in Severe Cold Regions of China

Abstract

The thermal performance of envelope directly restricts the heating energy consumption and indoor thermal environment of rural houses in severe cold regions. However, with the improvement of thermal performance, the construction cost will be greatly affected, which is one of the main factors hindering the implementation of energy saving design for rural houses. The energy saving and economy of whole life cycle should be considered simultaneously when determining the optimal parameters of envelope. This paper, taking the benchmark model of rural houses as research object, the life cycle cost (LCC) as evaluation index, establishes the GenOpt-EnergyPlus optimization platform by coupling EnergyPlus and GenOpt software to carry out the optimization. In the analysis, the insulating layer thickness of exterior wall, roof and ground and the window types are selected as optimization variable. Considering that the length of life span may affect the effective utilization rate of operation and construction cost, three types of life span are set, including 10, 20 and 30 years. Through the analysis, the optimum thickness of insulating layer and the energy saving effect under different conditions were discussed, which provide the basis for the comprehensive optimization of energy saving and economic benefit of rural house’s envelope in severe cold regions of China.