Improvements in Energy Saving and Thermal Environment after Retrofitting with Interior Insulation in Intermittently Cooled Residences in Hot-Summer/Cold-Winter Zone of China: A Case Study in Chengdu

Xin Ye, Jun Lu, Tao Zhang, Yupeng Wang and Hiroatsu Fukuda
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Xin Ye: School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
Jun Lu: School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
Tao Zhang: Innovation Institute for Sustainable Maritime Architecture Research and Technology, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao 266033, China
Yupeng Wang: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China
Hiroatsu Fukuda: Department of Architecture, The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu 808-0135, Japan

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Space cooling is currently the fastest-growing end-user in buildings. The global warming trend combined with increased population and economic development will lead to accelerated growth in space cooling in the future, especially in China. The hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) zone is the most densely populated and economically developed region in China, but with the worst indoor thermal environment. Relatively few studies have been conducted on the actual measurements in the optimization of insulation design under typical intermittent cooling modes in this region. This case study was conducted in Chengdu—the two residences selected were identical in design, but the south bedroom of the case study residence had interior insulation (inside insulation on all opaque interior surfaces of a space) retrofitted in the bedroom area in 2017. In August 2019, a comparative on-site measurement was done to investigate the effect of the retrofit work under three typical intermittent cooling patterns in the real-life scenario. The experimental result shows that interior insulation provides a significant improvement in energy-saving and the indoor thermal environment. The average energy savings in daily cooling energy consumption of the south bedroom is 42.09%, with the maximum reaching 48.91%. In the bedroom with interior insulation retrofit, the indoor temperature is closer to the set temperature and the vertical temperature difference is smaller during the cooling period; when the air conditioner is off, the room remains a comfortable temperature for a slightly longer time.

Keywords: interior insulation; cooling energy demand; indoor thermal environment; intermittent cooling operation; real-life scenario measurements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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