Optimum insulation thickness determination using the environmental and life cycle cost analyses based entransy approach

Abstract

In this study, optimum insulation thickness is investigated according to the entransy loss. Analyses are carried out using rockwool and glasswool as insulation materials. Two different analyses are applied to the building walls. Firstly, a novel method that combines entransy and environmental analyses is used. The fuel consumption, the CO2 emission and the environmental impacts of the system related to entransy loss are determined. Secondly, a method that combines entransy and the life cycle cost analyses is applied. The insulation cost, the fuel cost and the total cost are calculated. The optimum insulation thicknesses, which are determined by environmental impact analysis, are 0.15 and 0.064 m for glasswool and rockwool, respectively. The optimum insulation thicknesses depending on life cycle cost analysis are calculated as 0.012 and 0.007 m, respectively for glasswool and rockwool. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.