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Relative Comparison of Benefits of Floor-Slab Insulation Methods, Using Polyiso and XPS Materials in South Africa, Subject to the New National Building Energy Efficiency Standards
Kabundu, E.; Mbanga, S.; Botha, B.; Ayesu-Koranteng, E. Relative Comparison of Benefits of Floor Slab Insulation Methods, Using Polyiso and Extruded Polystyrene Materials in South Africa, Subject to the New National Building Energy Efficiency Standards. Energies2024, 17, 539.
Kabundu, E.; Mbanga, S.; Botha, B.; Ayesu-Koranteng, E. Relative Comparison of Benefits of Floor Slab Insulation Methods, Using Polyiso and Extruded Polystyrene Materials in South Africa, Subject to the New National Building Energy Efficiency Standards. Energies 2024, 17, 539.
Kabundu, E.; Mbanga, S.; Botha, B.; Ayesu-Koranteng, E. Relative Comparison of Benefits of Floor Slab Insulation Methods, Using Polyiso and Extruded Polystyrene Materials in South Africa, Subject to the New National Building Energy Efficiency Standards. Energies2024, 17, 539.
Kabundu, E.; Mbanga, S.; Botha, B.; Ayesu-Koranteng, E. Relative Comparison of Benefits of Floor Slab Insulation Methods, Using Polyiso and Extruded Polystyrene Materials in South Africa, Subject to the New National Building Energy Efficiency Standards. Energies 2024, 17, 539.
Abstract
This article aims to assess the benefits of floor-slab insulation measures using extruded polystyrene (XPS) and polyisocyanurate (polyiso) insulation materials at various levels of insulation thicknesses for a detached residential building. The EnergyPlus simulation analysis was carried out within the seven energy zones (represented by eight locations) of South Africa in accordance with the South African national code for building energy efficiency (SANS10400-XA). The energy savings and payback periods due to use of the insulation over a lifecycle period of 50 years were assessed. Cape Town (zone 4) behaved differently from other locations and hardly benefitted from the application of floor-slab insulation measures. Generally, polyiso insulation performed better than XPS, for vertical gap insulation. For vertical gap insulation, lower insulation thicknesses required higher insulation depths to maximize energy savings. Similarly, lower insulation thicknesses required higher perimeter insulation widths to maximize energy savings, for the horizontal perimeter insulation method. The locations that benefitted most from vertical gap floor-slab insulation were Pretoria (zone2), Kimberley (zone6), Nelspruit (zone3), Fraserburg (zone7), Welkom (zone1), Mthatha (zone5), Ixopo (zone5H) and Cape Town (zone4) in that order. This order was almost similar with those for the horizontal perimeter floor-slab insulation and horizontal full floor-slab insulation methods.
Keywords
Energy efficiency; Lifecycle analysis (LCA); Embodied energy; Source energy; Site energy; Energy savings; Energy payback period.
Subject
Engineering, Architecture, Building and Construction
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
