G. Evola, L. Marletta, F. Sicurella and V. Tanasiev
Year:
2013
Bibliographic info:
Proceedings of the 34th AIVC - 3rd TightVent - 2nd Cool Roofs' - 1st venticool Conference , 25-26 September, Athens 2013

A good level of thermal insulation and an adequate thermal capacity of the building envelope are essential to achieve good energy performance. Many studies have been conducted about this topic, mostly focused on the reduction of energy losses, peak load control and energy savings. Nevertheless, very few studies were realized addressing both insulation and inertia of the building envelope in a thermal comfort perspective, and taking into account the combined effect of different ventilation strategies.

What is the right combination of insulation thickness, heat capacity and night ventilation, in order to achieve better thermal comfort? How to exploit effectively the passive energy potential of the envelope? Of course the answer is not unique since too many parameters influence the building dynamic response under real weather condition. Nevertheless, in this paper a number of simulated results will be reported showing, for a real building with concrete walls, the combined effect of wall thickness, insulation level and outdoor ventilation rates on thermal comfort. These simulations were run under continental climate conditions (UK), and the results show the synergic effect of some strategies to achieve thermal comfort as well as their individual impact on it.