INDOOR THERMAL ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY-SAVING CHARACTERISTICS OF A SMALL-SCALE NURSING HOME BUILT WITH THE EWIS (EXTERNAL WALL INSULATION SYSTEM) FOR REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURE IN NAGANO PREFECTURE, JAPAN

This paper report refers to an indoor thermal environment and energy-saving characteristics of asmall-scale nursing home in CHINO City, Nagano Prefecture, JAPAN (referred to as S nursing house)by means of measuring the temperature, humidity and electricity consumption. The city of CHINO, avery cold area in Japan, is allocated to Area II under the new energy-saving standard in Japan. Thishouse is built with the EWIS for reinforced concrete structure. To ensure higher thermal insulationperformance, the EPS boards with thickness of 300 mm are attached onto the wall building fromoutside. And two different high insulation and air-tight window systems with triple glazing are installed.Along with high insulation building materials, a full-time ventilation system with high efficient heatrecovery function is also installed. As per the surface finish of EWIS, a vapor permeable syntheticplaster system is applied for good vapor diffusion and to avoid blistering, peeling and bubbling. Thisbuilding is designed to use human body heat of the staff and customers as heat wastes, as well aslighting and electric devices. Service started in September 2006, any air-conditioning device has neverbeen used until now (end of April 2007), except for use of dehumidifier during a few several hot days.The indoor amenity and energy-saving characteristics is highly expected throughout the year.