The Thermal Insulation Performance of Envelope Construction of Residential Housing – A Case Study of Detached Houses in Yilan, Taiwan

Abstract

This research aims to study the design and thermal insulation performance of detached houses in Taiwan through the analysis of 55 detached houses. The research shows that 85% of detached houses are built using reinforced concrete (RC) construction, and the rest mostly using lightweight steel framing (LSF) construction. The thermal insulation performance of envelope construction of RC housing is poorer than LSF housing. More than 80% of the case study sample could not meet the roof thermal insulation requirements of Taiwans latest regulations on housing building energy saving. The most commonly used thermal insulation materials are polystyrene board, glass wool and rock wool, which are nearly all applied in LSF housings for the internal thermal insulation layer or the structural body layer of envelope construction. Polystyrene board has the widest range of use, including both internal and external thermal insulation layers of the envelope construction. If improving thermal insulation performance of the common envelope construction concluded from case study samples to meet Taiwans latest regulations on housing building energy saving, of the savings on air-conditioning energy during the summer could potentially be 11.5%. However, above improvement project is not economically beneficial due to the too long payback period.