Whole building retrofit using vacuum insulation panels and energy performance analysis

Journal Article · Wed Sep 11 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Energy and Buildings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109430· OSTI ID:1561657

Biswas, Kaushik ^[1]; Patel, Tapan ^[2]; Shrestha, Som S. ^[1]; Smith, Douglas ^[3]; Desjarlais, Andre Omer ^[1]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), Champaign, IL (United States)
3. NanoPore, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs), due to their high thermal performance, provide an attractive alternative to traditional building insulation materials, especially as an option for retrofitting old, poorly insulated buildings. This article describes the complete retrofit of all exterior walls of a single-story building in a cold climate using VIPs. A recently-developed low-cost VIP, called modified atmosphere insulation (MAI), was used in this study. Two buildings of near-identical construction were studied, with one remaining unaltered and serving as the baseline while the other served as the retrofit building. The VIPs or MAI panels proved to be a feasible and durable option for retrofitting building envelopes. Thermal performance of both buildings was analyzed using in-situ temperature and heat flow sensors. Numerical models of the two buildings were created, benchmarked using experimental data and used for predictions of annual energy savings due to the addition of MAI panels to the exterior walls. The models predicted significant reduction in the annual heating energy consumption in the retrofitted building compared to the baseline building.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Building Technologies Office (EE-5B)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1561657
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2325400
• Journal Information: Energy and Buildings, Journal Name: Energy and Buildings Journal Issue: C Vol. 203; ISSN 0378-7788
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
42 ENGINEERING
Building retrofit
Exterior wall retrofit
Modified atmosphere insulation
Vacuum insulation
Whole building energy analysis