Performance assessment of TIM-envelopes

During the past two decades, pressure on the building industry increased gradually. Energy effi-ciency, indoor air quality, comfort, durability, sustainability all became key issues within a framework of growing cost awareness. Hence, this multiplication of issues emphasized the need for a new methodology to assess building quality, called the performance concept. This paper uses performances to evaluate an advanced building envelope system: transparent insulation (TIM). But first, the performance concept itself is clarified and a performance array for hygro-thermal evaluation proposed, from the building down to the envelope. This array is then used to analyze the TIM-choice. The study shows that performances not only are a tool when evaluating an envelope solution but also help in improving it.