Year: 2008
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: There is an increasing trend in reducing energy demand of buildings by improving building envelope thermal\ncharacteristics. Proven construction examples as used with the German PassivHaus standard achieve\nsubstantial reductions on the heating demand compared to mainstream construction, generally by using high\nlevels of insulation together with ensuring excellent air tightness and minimizing of thermal bridges.\nHowever, the limits to which levels of insulation in a building can be increased and still represent overall life\ncycle energy savings are not clear. Particularly for temperate climates, adopting very-high insulation\nstandards can lead to a danger of over specifying construction elements: once we reach certain levels of\ninsulation, any extra material used can have larger energy costs or “embodied energy” than the energy it\nsaves in the life cycle of the building. This paper presents the heating energy use of sample houses in the\nIrish maritime climate, and analyses the life cycle energy use including the embodied energy of the materials\nused. A 50-year perspective is presented, and conclusions about the limits to which the heating energy\nconsumption can be lowered by “passive” means on a particular climate are drawn. This paper demonstrates\nthe life-cycle benefits of optimizing the building design ensuring a correct orientation and sizing of the\nopenings, but respecting certain limits when using energy intensive insulation materials.
Authors: Patxi Hernández, Paul Kenny
Institution: University College Dublin
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1493980369