Use of Insulation Based on Nanomaterials to Improve Energy Efficiency of Residential Buildings in a Hot Desert Climate

Ahmed Abdelrady, Mohamed Hssan Hassan Abdelhafez and Ayman Ragab
Additional contact information
Ahmed Abdelrady: Department of Water Management, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
Mohamed Hssan Hassan Abdelhafez: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Aswan University, Aswan 81542, Egypt
Ayman Ragab: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Aswan University, Aswan 81542, Egypt

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Building insulation based on nanomaterials is considered one of the most effective means of reducing energy consumption in the hot desert climate. The application of an energy-efficient insulation system can significantly decrease the energy consumed via a building’s air-conditioning system during the summer. Hence, building insulation has become an interesting research topic, especially with regards to the use of insulation based on nanomaterials due to their low U-values. In the present study, the use of nano vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) or polystyrene foam in the walls enabled a significant reduction in the annual energy consumption, a savings of 23% compared to the uninsulated wall in a study in New Aswan City. The application of nanogel glazing to the windows (two layers of clear glass filled with the nanogel) achieved approximately 11% savings in annual energy. This savings, twice that obtained by using double-glazed windows, could be due to the low U-value of nanogel compared to the U-values of argon or air. The embedded nanogel layer between two layers of argon and two layers of single clear glass showed a significant reduction in annual energy consumption, saving 26% compared to the use of a single layer of glass. Moreover, the integration between this window and embedded walls with 50 mm of polystyrene foam exhibited a significant improvement of energy efficiency by 47.6% while presenting the lowest value of simple payback period (SPP). This research provides a way for buildings to be insulated to make them more energy efficient as well as attractive from the economic standpoint.

Keywords: energy efficiency; thermal insulation; residential building; nanogel; nano-VIPs; simple payback period SPP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5266/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5266/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:5266-:d:550681

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().