A comparative study of thermal and fuel performance of an energy -efficient building in different climate regions of Turkey

Abstract

In this study, energy analysis was carried out to decide the building energy performance for different climate regions and fuels with various novel polyurethane insulation materials. The coal, natural gas, liquefied-petroleum-gas (LPG), fuel-oil and electricity were considered as the fuel. The results show that 3% paper mill sludge (PMS) added polyurethane foam has the best thermal resistance. When 3% PMS added polyurethane is compared with the standard one, the largest heat need reduction occurs in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th regions to be 14.6 %, 13.57 %, 13.14 % and 12.57 %, respectively, for the insulation thickness of about 0.049 m. 3% PMS added polyurethane can provide the largest energy saving cost of 1.456 $/m(2).year for LPG in the fourth region for the insulation thickness of 0.0245 m. It is followed by electricity, fuel oil, coal and natural gas to be 1.033 $/m(2), 0.97 $/m(2), 0.456 $/m(2) and 0.23 $/m(2), respectively. In the case of 0.0245 m thickness, life-cycle saving varies between 8.86-54.6 $/m(2) and the payback period changes between 1.37 years and 8.76 years depending on the fuels. The new polyurethane reduces the required thickness of the insulation materials about almost halve for all region thereby reducing the insulation material cost.