The selecting of building insulation material by the analytic hierarchy process

Abstract

Today one of the Federal programs implemented in Russia at the state level, is a program of energy conservation and energy efficiency to reduce the specific consumption of fuel and energy resources. In developed countries, private landlords are using almost 30% of all generated power, i.e. almost as much as industry and more than all transport combined. About 80% of the energy consumed goes to space heating, but much of it is often wasted due to a mismatch of home insulation with the adopted standards. Thus, a rational choice of insulating material is one of the most important tasks to reduce heat losses in residential buildings. There is a wide variety of building insulation materials available for purchase. For heat insulation of external walls of residential buildings are most often used single-piece insulation materials – batts, blankets, panels. Their essential advantage in comparison with loose-fill materials, such as crushed expanded polystyrene, expanded vermiculite, claydite, are the simplicity and speed of installation, acceleration of construction works and improvement of their quality. Autoclaved aerated concrete blocks are used traditional for thermal walls insulation, they does not rot, does not burn, does not emit toxic substances during operation, has an average water vapor permeability and, therefore, well regulates the humidity in the room. However, the masonry of aerated concrete blocks has a significant disadvantage – a large average density. Alternatively, the modern industry offers a wide range of synthetic insulating materials, the most popular are fiberglass, mineral (rock or slag) wool, plastic or natural fibers, polystyrene, polyisocyanurate, polyurethane foam boards. As well become increasingly popular natural materials such as cellulose, peat blocks, cork, fiberboard, insulation from flax or hemp fibers. All of these materials have their advantages and disadvantages, so the task of choosing the optimal variant is complex and requires special methods to eliminate the subjectivity of evaluation. The article describes the approach to selecting the best option of building insulation material from the available options by the set of its quantitative and qualitative characteristics. It is proposed to carry out the evaluation of options and selection of the best option based on the analytic hierarchy process. The article presents the results of the selection of the most appropriate thermal insulation material for residential buildings.