Investigation of the effect of thermal insulation for a model house in cold regions: A case study of Turkey

Abstract

This article conducts energy consumption and CO2 emission estimations on an example house with outer walls and ceiling insulations using Degree-Day method (DDM). It is assumed that the example house is a simple single floor with 150 m2. Two cases have been taken into account: The first one is only insulation on the walls with a thickness of 5 cm and the second one is insulation on both ceilings and walls with a thickness of 5 cm using the insulation material polystyrene. To make a DDM analysis, four type of fuel used are selected as heating energy since there are commonly consumed in selected regions. Results showed that energy consumption and CO2 emissions of an example house with walls and ceiling insulation is achieved by about 55% decrease when coal is used. Energy consumption and CO2 emission in base temperature tb= 15.5°C for all types of fuel in example house is about 43% less than at 23°C base temperature. Similarly, for a base temperature of 21°C, energy consumption and CO2 emission with outer wall insulation is about 50% less than without insulation. Energy consumption and CO2 emission improvement with ceiling insulation is about 11%. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 33: 527-537, 2014 © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog.