Thermal insulation
improves the strength and longevity of buildings by reducing energy
consumption, and as a related result, improved energy use. The selection of
insulation material is governed by important parameters, including the average
outdoor air temperature, the thermal conductivity of the buildings and the cost
of the insulation material. Increases in the thickness of the insulation
material will gradually decrease the energy consumption for heating; however,
the insulation thickness has an optimum value that minimises the total
investment cost, and determination of this optimum value is critical for
economic analysis. In this paper, a life-cycle cost analysis is presented to
show the optimum insulation thickness, energy savings over a lifetime of 15
years and payback periods for six different fuels and insulation materials for
four cities in Turkey selected from climate regions identified by the Turkish
Thermal Insulation Standard (TS 825). Muğla (1st region), Kocaeli (2nd region),
Ankara (3rd region) and Ardahan (4th region) were selected for analysis of a
sandwich-type wall constructed from the following six insulation materials:
extruded polystyrene, expanded polystyrene, glass wool, rock wool,
polyisocyanurate and polyurethane. The calculations were also made on the basis
of six different fuels, such as motorin, natural gas, propane (LPG),
electricity, coal (imported), and fuel-oil No. 4. As a consequence, results
demonstated that the optimum insulation thickness vary between 2.8 cm and 45.1
cm, with energy savings between 16.4 ₺/m2 and 479 ₺/m2, and payback periods
fluctuating between 0.078 and 0.860 years, depending on the city, the insulation
material, and the cost of fuel.
Subjects | Engineering |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | June 28, 2017 |
Acceptance Date | June 21, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017 |