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Buildings
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Thermal Insulation for Buildings in a Changing Climate
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Thermal Insulation for Buildings in a Changing Climate

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 4221

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaohai Zhou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chair of Building Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETHZ, Zürich, Switzerland
Interests: building physics; heat and moisture tranposrt in porous building materials; thermal comfort; durability of building materials; energy-efficient buildings; influence of climate change on the built environment
Dr. Xiaofeng Niu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Urban Construction, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China
Interests: building energy conservation and green building; efficient heat and moisture exchange materials for buildings; low-grade heat driven refrigeration and air conditioning technology; refrigeration and air conditioning system optimization and control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Buildings consume approximately 40% of the total primary energy in the world. Thermal insulation is an important way to reduce building heating and cooling consumption and increase the energy efficiency of buildings. Thermal insulation also helps to increase the thermal comfort of the indoor environment. The requirements of thermal insulation materials are becoming stricter over the years. Many new types of insulation materials have been developed in recent years for new and existing buildings.  In the face of climate change, the application of environmentally friendly insulation materials and super insulation materials will be more common. Building science researchers face many challenges, such as the development and application of new insulation materials, sustainability of insulation materials, moisture risk of internal thermal insulation systems, and durability of insulation materials under future climatic loading.

The objective of this Special Issue is to present the latest research results related to thermal insulation in buildings. Topics of interest for the Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Thermal insulation of zero-energy buildings;
  • Energy-saving effect of thermal insulation;
  • External insulation system for building retrofitting;
  • Internal thermal insulation of historic buildings;
  • Influence of thermal insulation on indoor thermal comfort;
  • Simulation of moisture and heat transport in insulation materials;
  • Hygrothermal properties of insulation materials;
  • The durability of thermal insulation systems;
  • Development of new thermal insulation materials.

Dr. Xiaohai Zhou
Dr. Xiaofeng Niu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • external thermal insulation
  • internal thermal insulation
  • durability of insulation materials
  • building energy efficiency
  • energy saving
  • insulation materials
  • moisture risk
  • thermal performance

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1940 KiB  
Article
Energy Upgrading of Basement Exterior Walls: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
by Christofer Skaar, Jørn-Emil Gaarder, Nora Schjøth Bunkholt and Malin Sletnes
Buildings 2023, 13(1), 133; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010133 - 4 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1207
Abstract
Most of today’s buildings will still be in use in 2050 and upgrades should therefore contribute to reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint. This paper addresses a challenge for upgrading of basement exterior walls of single-family dwellings, where ordinary retrofit insulation can lead [...] Read more.
Most of today’s buildings will still be in use in 2050 and upgrades should therefore contribute to reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint. This paper addresses a challenge for upgrading of basement exterior walls of single-family dwellings, where ordinary retrofit insulation can lead to the basement wall protruding from the existing outer wall. For some, this will be an aesthetic barrier for an energy upgrade (an “ugly” solution). Superinsulation may solve this challenge without compromising the energy performance. This study analyses energy, cost and carbon footprint, to identify under which conditions upgrading with vacuum insulation panels (VIP) can be a preferred solution. Three alternatives are analysed in a parametric model: ordinary upgrade with XPS (the aesthetically “ugly”), upgrade with VIP above ground and XPS below ground (the aesthetically “good”), and iii) no upgrade (the “bad”, as it does not contribute to reducing energy consumption). Results show that using VIP and XPS to perform energy upgrade of a basement exterior wall may lead to an aesthetically more pleasing solution than with only XPS, but that it will lead to higher carbon footprint and higher costs. The least favourable option is to install a drainage system without doing an energy upgrade, which will have negative impact for energy use, carbon footprint and life cycle cost. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Insulation for Buildings in a Changing Climate)
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22 pages, 5951 KiB  
Article
Research on the Relationship between Thermal Insulation Thickness and Summer Overheating Risk: A Case Study in Severe Cold and Cold Regions of China
by Rui Bo, Yu Shao, Yitong Xu, Yang Yu, Haibo Guo and Wen-Shao Chang
Buildings 2022, 12(7), 1032; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12071032 - 17 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2436
Abstract
Given the prediction of global warming, there is a growing concern about overheating in the severe cold and cold regions of China. In the past decades, indoor thermal comfort has been neglected in building practice, while efficiency-oriented improvements have been developed, such as [...] Read more.
Given the prediction of global warming, there is a growing concern about overheating in the severe cold and cold regions of China. In the past decades, indoor thermal comfort has been neglected in building practice, while efficiency-oriented improvements have been developed, such as increased insulation of building envelope. An extensive literature review shows contradictory conclusions about whether increased insulation can alleviate overheating. The aim of this research is to conduct simulations based on measured data to reveal the influence of insulation on overheating in dwellings in these regions of China. An unoccupied residential flat was monitored to determine the extent of overheating while eliminating the effects of other contributors, such as natural ventilation. Validated building performance simulations were carried out with altered insulation layer thickness in Integrated Environmental Solutions-Virtual Environment IESVE software to examine its influence on overheating during summertime in five representative cities. The results showed clear evidence of summer overheating in these regions. In Yichun, Harbin, Shenyang, Dalian and Beijing, walls with increased insulation were found to exacerbate overheating in the bedrooms without natural ventilation by 22.5%, 16.6%, 20.3%, 11.8% and 6.9%, respectively, compared to the uninsulated walls. This study provides useful information for building regulations on energy efficiency and thermal comfort. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Insulation for Buildings in a Changing Climate)
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