Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 23042313

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Energy and Buildings

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Optimum insulation thickness of residential roof with respect to solar-air degree-hours in hot summer and cold winter zone of china
Jinghua Yu a, , Liwei Tian b , Changzhi Yang c , Xinhua Xu a , Jinbo Wang a
a

School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co. Ltd., Wuhan 430063, China c College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Thermal protection of building envelope is one of the most effective ways for building energy conservation. In this study, the determination of optimum insulation thickness for residential roof with different surface colors is studied based on life cycle cost analysis and solar-air degree-hours in four typical cities of hot summer and cold winter zone of China. Four insulation materials including expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, foamed polyurethane and foamed polyvinyl chloride are analyzed. The solar-air degree-hours are calculated considering night time operation and 24-h operation of the cooling and heating equipments. Life cycle total costs (LCT), life cycle savings (LCS) and payback period resulting from the use of optimum insulation thickness are calculated. Depending on different cities, insulation materials and roof surface colors, optimum insulation thicknesses of a typical roof vary from 0.065 to 0.187 m and payback periods vary from 0.9 to 2.3 years for 24-h operation of cooling and heating equipments; optimum insulation thicknesses are between 0.051 and 0.149 m and the payback periods are between 1.1 and 2.8 years for night time operation. At last, the effects of present worth factor, thermal resistance and climate on the optimum thicknesses are studied which is very useful for practical use to estimate the optimum thickness of insulation material. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 14 September 2010 Received in revised form 21 January 2011 Accepted 23 May 2011 Keywords: Optimum thickness Payback period Life cycle cost Life cycle savings Solar-air degree-hours

1. Introduction The energy demand in China is rapidly growing due to increasing population, urbanization and the improvement of living standards. Chinas buildings sector currently accounts for 27.6% of total energy use and is projected to increase to 35% by 2020 [1,2]. It was estimated that the residential buildings consumed 11.3% of total national energy and ranked the second after the industry buildings in 2003 [3]. Additionally, more than 90% of residential buildings are recognized as the heavy energy-consumption buildings, the level of energy efciency in buildings, particularly in residential stock, remains low [4]. Energy conservation of residential buildings has become an important part of national energy strategies and will continue growing in importance in future. Building envelopes are the interface between indoor and the outdoor environment which affect the indoor heat gain and heat loss. Effective thermal protection in building envelope plays an important role towards the reduction of energy consumption for

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 15 972007990; fax: +86 27 87792101. E-mail addresses: yujinghua323@126.com (J. Yu), liwei tian@163.com (L. Tian), yang0369@126.com (C. Yang), bexhxu@hust.edu.cn (X. Xu), jbwang@hust.edu.cn (J. Wang). 0378-7788/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.05.012

space heating and cooling. Increasing the insulation thickness will decrease the energy consumption for cooling and heating but increase the initial cost, there must be an optimum point where the total investment cost for the insulation and energy consumption can be minimized over the lifetime. There will be no energy savings to increase additional insulation beyond the optimum thickness. Therefore, the determination of optimum insulation thickness is imperative. There are various types of climate in China due to its vast territory, complicated topography and a great disparity in elevation. Taking the average temperatures in the coldest and hottest months of the year as the main zoning criteria, the number of days that the daily average temperature is below 5 C or above 25 C as the complementary indices for determining the zones, ve major climate zones are divided for the thermal design of the buildings, namely, severe cold, cold, hot summer and cold winter, mild, and hot summer and warm winter [5]. Fig. 1 shows the layout of the ve climatic zones in China. Hot summer and cold winter zone locates at south centre of China, the weather here is extremely severe in both summer and winter, the average temperatures of hottest month range from 25 C to 30 C, about 2 C higher than other places of the same latitude all over the world, while those of the coldest month range from 2 C to 7 C, about 8 C lower. Besides, the annual mean relative humidities in most cities of this zone are higher than 75% [6].

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Nomenclature CDH* HDH* Nc Nh Tsa Tb U U q Ri Ro Rf Rins x EH EC EER d i PWF Ne NL Nmin Rv D Ms P1 P2 Ci CE xop Np LCT LCS solar-air cooling degree-hours ( C h) solar-air heating degree-hours ( C h) cooling hours heating hours hourly average solar-air temperature ( C) indoor base temperature ( C) overall heat transfer coefcient of roof (W/(m2 K)) difference between heat transfer coefcient of uninsulated and insulated roofs heat loss per unit area of roof (W/m2 ) inside air lm thermal resistance(m2 K/W) outside air lm thermal resistance (m2 K/W) composite roof thermal resistance excluding insulation material (m2 K/W) insulation thermal resistance (m2 K/W) insulation thickness (m) thermal conductivity of insulation material (W/m K) annual energy use for heating per unit area of roof (kWh/m2 ) annual energy use for cooling per unit area of roof (kWh/m2 ) seasonal energy efciency ratio of the cooling equipment seasonal efciency of heating equipment market discount rate ination rate present worth factor analysis period (year) term of loan (year) years over which mortgage payments contribute to the analysis ratio of resale value at the end of analysis period to initial investment ratio of down payment to initial investment ratio of rst year miscellaneous costs to initial investment ratio of life cycle cost (savings) to the rst-year fuel cost (savings) ratio of life cycle expenditures to the initial investment insulation price ($/m3 ) electricity price ($/kWh) optimum thickness of insulation (m) payback period (year) life cycle total costs of insulation material and energy consumption ($/m2 ) life cycle savings ($/m2 )

Fig. 1. Layout of ve climatic zones in China.

Additionally, the thermal-insulating level for residential buildings is extremely poor, to maintain indoor thermal comfort, buildings need long time cooling in summer and heating in winter, the energy consumption for space cooling and heating accounts for 5060% of total in residential building and will be increased in the future [7]. According to related data, 80 million kW of cooling load in summer and 0.2 billion kW of heating load in winter are required in this zone [8]. The rigorous climatic and huge energy use in hot summer and cold winter zone imply that it has great signicance to select the proper insulation material and determine the optimum insulation thickness. One of the main inputs required in the analysis of optimum insulation thickness is annual energy consumption. The degree time concept using the base temperature and outdoor temperature is

most widely used. Several studies have applied the degree time method and life cycle cost analysis to calculate the optimum insulation thickness of wall/roof from different aspects. Hasan [9] reported that the optimum insulation thickness was a function of degree-days and wall thermal resistance using life cycle cost analysis, this study provided a basis for further related research. The optimization of thicknesses for two insulation materials and two typical wall structures was studied using this function in Palestine in 1999. Then, some studies on energy savings and payback period when using optimum insulation thickness have been carried out based on life cycle cost analysis with respect to different regions. Comakl and Yksel [10] performed a study on the optimum insulation thickness for external wall in three coldest cities of Turkey, namely, Erzurum, Kars and Erzincan. Considerable energy saving of 12.113 $/m2 is obtained when the optimum insulation thickness is applied for Erzincan; Bolattrk [11] reported a study in 2006, 16 cities from four climate zones of Turkey were selected to analyze the optimum insulation thicknesses, energy savings and payback periods with respect to ve fuels. The results show that optimum insulation thicknesses vary from 2 to 17 cm, energy savings vary from 22% to 79%, and payback periods range from 1.3 to 4.5 years. Later, another study was reported by the same author [12], the effects of different base temperatures on the optimum insulation for building walls were analyzed in Turkeys warmest zone. In the study of 2007 [13], optimum insulation thicknesses for different regions of Turkey, namely, Izmir, Bursa, Eskisehir and Erzurum, were determined, a relation between optimum insulation thickness and the heating degree-days was obtained. At the same time, some studies focused on the effects of different energy-sources and insulation materials on the optimum insulation thickness of wall. Payback period and the energy savings were calculated as the complementary evaluation indices for insulation materials. Dombayc [14] compared the optimum insulation thicknesses of wall with respect to ve different energy-sources and two insulation materials in Denizli of Turkey. Another study reported by Mahlia [15] in 2007, analyzed the correlation between thermal conductivity and the optimum insulation thickness for building wall in Malaysia. Then, Kaynakli [16] investigated the variation of annual energy requirement of buildings for various architectural design properties; the optimum insulation thicknesses for Bursa vary from 5.3 to 12.4 cm depending on ve fuel types. In the study of 2009 [17], the optimum insulation thicknesses of the external walls, energy savings and payback periods were calculated for ve different fuels, four different insulation materials and various cities

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in Turkey, results show that optimum insulation thicknesses range from 1.06 to 7.64 cm, energy savings vary from 19 to 47 $/m2 and payback periods are in the range of 1.83.7 years, depending on the cities and fuel types. Only a few studies have considered the effect of solar radiation on heat transfer rate through opaque envelope. In the study performed by Al-Khawaja, the solar-air temperature was calculated with the solar radiation taken into account using empirical formula method, which was employed for the determination of the heat transfer rate [18]; however, the mathematic method to calculate the hourly solar-air temperature was very complicated; some related parameters were valued approximately which might cause low accuracy. In China, there are a few studies on the optimum insulation thickness, especially in hot summer and cold winter zone. Degreedays method and lifecycle cost analysis are also widely used to determine the optimum insulation thickness in China. Huang and Ye [19] established a mathematic model of optimum insulation thickness for external wall using degree-days method, the optimum insulation thicknesses of six walls and the effects of some factors on the optimum insulation thickness were analyzed. Wang and Wu [20] calculated the optimum thicknesses of ve insulation materials for six typical walls based on degree-days method and present worth factor in Chongqing city, life cycle energy savings and payback periods when using the insulation materials with optimum thicknesses were also determined. Meanwhile, Xu et al. [21] analyzed optimum thickness of extruded polystyrene for the hollow brick wall and concrete roof in Nanjing. In the study of Yu [22], the optimum thicknesses of ve insulation materials were calculated with a typical residential wall in Shanghai, Changsha, Shaoguan and Chengdu, considering the effect of solar radiation on heat transfer rate through building walls of different orientations and surface colors. Most of the above studies determined the optimum insulation thickness totally according to cooling and heating degree-days. This method is the most simplest way to calculate the heat transfer rate through opaque envelope, which assumes that the energy requirements is proportional to the temperature difference between outdoor and indoor base temperature, but it has three disadvantages: rst, the very important factor of solar radiation is neglected in cooling and heating degree-days, solar radiation absorbed by outside surface of opaque envelope should be taken into account in the analysis; second, heat transfer through opaque envelope calculated with this method is regardless of walls/roof orientations and surface colors; third, cooling and heating degree-days used for calculation of energy consumption is not consisting with the actual operation time of cooling and heating equipments. To solve these problems and make the calculation of heat transfer rate much more accurate, solar-air cooling degree-hours (CDH* ) and heating degree-hours (HDH* ) are introduced in this study. Present data show that cooling and heating requirements caused by residential roof account for about 4% of the whole building envelope and 20% of the top oor in hot summer and cold winter zone [23], so roof is an important part for building energy conservation. For lack of studies on optimum insulation thickness of roof in this zone, this study aims to determine the optimum insulation thickness of a typical residential roof with respect to solar-air degree-hours considering two operation schedules of cooling and heating systems, calculate the LCT, LCS and payback period resulting from the use of optimum insulation thickness, and analyze the effects of inuence factors on the optimum insulation thickness. Four insulation materials of expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, foamed polyurethane and foamed polyvinyl chloride are chosen. Four typical cities including Shanghai, Changsha, Shaoguan, and Chengdu are selected and analyzed to represent A, B, C, and D subzone of hot summer and cold winter zone of China (A subzone:

1000 C d HDD18 < 2000 C d and 50 C d < CDD26 150 C d; B subzone: 1000 C d HDD18 < 2000 C d and 150 C d < CDD26 300 C d; C subzone: 600 C d HDD18 < 1000 C d and 100 C d < CDD26 300 C d; D subzone: 1000 C d HDD18 < 2000 C d and CDD26 50 C d). 2. Solar-air cooling degree-hours and heating degree-hours 2.1. Concepts of solar-air cooling and heating degree-hours Considering both outside air temperature and solar radiation, solar-air degree-hours are proposed to estimate energy consumption due to space heating and cooling caused by opaque envelope. Solar-air degree-hours are the summation of the differences between outdoor hourly solar-air temperature and some base temperature over a specied time period, which includes Solar-air heating degree-hours and solar-air cooling degree-hours. Solar-air heating degree-hours (HDH* ) are the sum of the differences between indoor base temperature and outdoor hourly solar-air temperature whenever the outdoor hourly solar-air temperature falls below the base temperature over the specied time period. Similarly, solar-air cooling degree-hours (CDH* ) are the sum of the differences between outdoor hourly solar-air and base temperature whenever the outdoor hourly solar-air temperature rises above the base temperature over the specied time period. The specied time period here means the operation time of cooling and heating equipments in cooling and heating seasons, the base temperature is a balance point temperature for buildings, it is 26 C for cooling period, and 18 C for heating period [24]. The total numbers of CDH* and HDH* can be dened as the followings:
Nc

CDH =
j=1 Nh

(Tsa Tb )j

for Tsa Tb

(1)

HDH =
j=1

(Tb Tsa )j

for Tsa Tb

(2)

where, Nc , Nh are numbers of cooling and heating hours, respectively; Tb is indoor base temperature; Tsa is hourly solar-air temperature which takes solar radiation absorbed by envelope surface into account, it is determined by hourly outdoor temperature, solar radiation density of each orientation and absorptance of envelop surface. In this paper, Tsa is just used to dene CDH* and HDH* and need not be calculated for the estimate of CDH* and HDH* . 2.2. Calculations of solar-air cooling and heating degree-hours The total numbers of CDH* and HDH* are back-calculated from the heat transfer load through roof/wall over the specied time periods simulated by the dynamic simulation program with the given heat transfer coefcient and area of roof/wall. CDH* and HDH* are determined by the meteorological condition of the region, wall (roof) orientation, surface color, and the operation period of cooling and heating equipments. As the specied time period of CDH* and HDH* is the operation time of cooling and heating equipments during cooling and heating seasons, a more signicant denition of cooling and heating seasons needs to be investigated. The method for determining the cooling and heating seasons was presented in the previous study [25], and the cooling and heating seasons in Shanghai, Changsha, Shaoguan, and Chengdu have been obtained (Table 1). In this study, two typical operation schedules for cooling and heating equipments are commonly used and analyzed, one (schedule 1) is 24-h operation during cooling and heating seasons, this schedule is suitable for buildings

J. Yu et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 23042313 Table 1 Determination of cooling and heating seasons in four cities. Shanghai Heating season Cooling season 1st December15th March 15th June15th September Changsha 1st December1st April 1st June15th September Shaoguan 15th December1st March 1st June1st October Chengdu

2307

1st December15th March 15th July1st August

occupied all day; the other (schedule 2) is night time operation during cooling and heating seasons, the operation time is between 6 pm and 8 am, this schedule is much more reasonable for buildings occupied at night. A residential building of ten stories is built to calculate CDH* and HDH* , the building roof includes four layers: 30 mm built up roof with medium color paint (solar radiation absorptance is 0.6), then a building paper felt, and 100 mm cement polystyrene board with two 20 mm cement mortar layers on both sides, followed by 120 mm reinforced concrete layer with gypsum plaster as interior nish, the heat transfer coefcient of roof is 0.92 (W/(m2 K)), the area is 3143 m2 , indoor design temperature is assigned 26 C for cooling and 18 C for heating; typical meteorological year data, which is provided by China Meteorological Bureau and Tsinghua University [26], is used for hourly weather data. The simulation program eQUEST is used to calculate heat-transfer loads through roof of different colored surfaces. With the given areas and heattransfer coefcient, the CDH* and HDH* for horizontal roof are back-calculated. The CDH* and HDH* of horizontal roof with different colored surfaces for the two operation schedules are listed in Table 2. 3. Determination of optimum insulation thickness 3.1. Annual cooling and heating energy requirements The building roof is affected by all three heat transfer mechanisms: conduction, convection and radiation. The building roof absorbs the solar radiation and transmits it into the internal surface by conduction. At the same time, convective thermal transmission occurs between ambient air and the outer surface of roof, also between the inner surface and indoor air. Thermal transmission process through the roof in heating season can be calculated by using the following equation [12]: qH = U (Tb Tsa ) (3)

Hot summer and cold winter zone of China belongs to noncentral heating region. Most of residential buildings currently use the electric air-source heat pumps for both cooling and heating, with some electric heaters as the assistant equipment in winter, so electricity is the main energy consumed. The annual energy consumption for heating per unit area of roof (EH , kWh/m2 ) can be calculated by dividing heat loss to the seasonal efciency of the heating system (): EH = 103 U HDH (6)

Similarly, the annual cooling requirement per unit area of roof (EC , kWh/m2 ) can be determined by the following equation: EC = 103 U CDH EER (7)

where, EER is the seasonal energy efciency ratio of the cooling system. 3.2. Economic analyses The most complete approach for optimum insulation thickness is to use life cycle cost method that take into account all future expenses. P1 P2 method [29] is suitable for the optimum insulation thickness analysis, any costs that are proportional to the rst-year electricity cost can be included in the analysis of P1 , and any costs that are proportional to the investment can be included in P2 . Here, P1 is the ratio of life cycle cost (savings) to the rst-year electricity cost (savings), which is equal to the present worth factor of a series of Ne future payment with the market discount rate d and ination rate i; P1 can be calculated by the following equation:
Ne

P1 = PWF(Ne , i, d) =
j=1

(1 + i)

j1 j

(1 + d)

1 di Ne 1+i

1+i 1+d

Ne

i= / d i=d

(8)

where qH all heat transfer coefcient of roof (W/(m2 K)), it can be calculated as follows [911]: U= 1 Ri + Rf + Rins + Ro (4)

is the heat loss per unit area of roof (W/m2 ); U is the over-

PWF is present worth factor; Ne is analysis period, here is the life cycle period of insulation material. P2 is the ratio of the life cycle expenditures incurred because of the additional capital investment to the initial investment and can be calculated by: P2 = D + (1 D) PWF(Nmin , 0, d) Rv + Ms PWF(Ne , i, d) N (9) PWF(NL , 0, m) (1 + d) e

where Ri and Ro are the inside and outside air lm thermal resistance, respectively (m2 K/W); they are function of the ow pattern and the temperature of the inside/outside air. For simplication, Ri and Ro in the four cities of hot summer and cold winter zone are set to be constant values in this paper. According to Refs. [27,28], the combined heat transfer coefcients at the inner and outer surfaces are taken to be 9 and 22 W/m2 K, so Ri and Ro are determined as 0.111 and 0.0454 m2 K/W, respectively. Rf is the thermal resistance of composite roof excluding insulation material (m2 K/W). Rins is the insulation thermal resistance, which can also be expressed as x/ , x is the insulation thickness (m), is the thermal conductivity of insulation material (W/m K). If Rt is the sum of the Ri , Rf and Ro , the difference between heat transfer coefcients for uninsulated and insulated roofs can be written as [12]: 1 1 U= Rt Rt + x/ (5)

where, D is the ratio of down payment to initial investment; Ms is the ratio of rst year miscellaneous costs to initial investment, Rv is the ratio of resale value at the end of analysis period to initial investment; NL is term of loan; Nmin is years over which mortgage payments contribute to the analysis (usually the minimum of Ne and NL ). The insulation cost of per unit area is explicitly given below [17]: Cins = Ci x ($/m3 ). (10)

LCT of insuwhere, Ci is the price of insulation material lation material and energy consumption can be calculated as the following equation using P1 P2 method: LCT = 103 P1 CE U DH + P2 Ci x DH* (11)

is dened as the function where, CE is electricity price, $/kWh. of climate and energy efciency of cooling and heating equipments,

2308 Table 2 CDH* and HDH* of horizontal roof in four cities ( C h). Schedule Roof surface Shanghai CDH* 1 Light color Mid-color Dark color Light color Mid-color Dark color 10,992 15,168 19,320 6928 9659 12,351

J. Yu et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 23042313

Changsha HDH* 35,040 31,920 28,872 22,793 20,677 18,668 CDH* 13,560 20,688 27,600 8620 13,702 18,512 HDH* 37,704 34,008 30,432 24,786 22,096 19,716

Shaoguan CDH* 17,040 22,800 28,272 11,407 15,836 19,985 HDH* 17,568 15,792 14,088 11,304 9576 8131

Chengdu CDH* 1944 3192 4416 1479 2456 3354 HDH* 34,872 31,464 28,368 22,995 20,693 18,599

L-color, means light color, solar radiation absorptance (SRA) is 0.3; M-color means middle color; SRA is 0.6; D-color means dark color, SRA of 0.9.

Table 3 Properties of insulation materials. Insulation material Extruded polystyrene Expanded polystyrene Foamed polyurethane Polyvinyl chloride (kg/m3 ) 35 25 30 130 (W/(m K)) 0.036 0.05 0.033 0.048 cp (J/kg K) 1380 1380 1380 1380 Ci ($/m3 ) 64.1 41.0 98.8 156.1 CA = Ci 2.31 2.05 3.26 7.49
ins

($ K/(m4 W))

Table 4 The parameters used in calculations. Parameters Value Rt (m2 K/W) 0.25 CE ($/kWh) 0.087 EER 2.3 [24] 1.9 [24] i 1% d 5% Ne (year) 20 [15] D 1 Ms 0 Rv 0 P1 13.5 P2 0

and used for calculating the energy consumption for cooling and heating. It can be calculated by the following equation: DH = CDH HDH + EER (12)

LCS is the difference value between energy savings cost and the insulation payout: LCS = 103 P1 CE U DH P2 Ci x (13)

At the optimum, the partial differential of the LCT or LCS with the thickness x is zero, so the optimum thickness of insulation xop is obtained: xop = 103 P1 CE DH Rt P2 Ci (14)
Fig. 2. The prevailing roof structure in hot summer and cold winter zone.

By setting Eq. (13) to be zero, the payback period Np can be calculated:

Np = Np =

4. Results and discussions 4.1. Optimum insulation thickness for roof in four typical cities The thickness of insulation layer at the minimum point of LCT or maximum point of LCS over the lifetime is taken as the optimum thickness; the LCT and LCS resulting from the use of optimum thickness insulation are taken as LCTop and LCSop , respectively.
Table 5 DH* of horizontal roof in four cities ( C h). Schedule 1 Roof surface Light color Mid-color Dark color Light color Mid-color Dark color Shanghai 23,221 23,395 23,596 15,009 15,082 15,195 Changsha 25,740 26,894 28,017 16,793 17,587 18,425 Shaoguan 16,655 18,225 19,707 10,909 11,925 12,969 Chengdu 19,200 17,948 16,851 12,745 11,959 11,247

2 ln 1 (P2 Ci ( Rt + Rt x)(d i))/(103 CE DH )

ln(1 + i/1 + d) 2 P2 Ci ( Rt + Rt x)(1 + i) 103 CE DH

i= / d i=d

(15)

The prevailing roof structure in hot summer and cold winter zone is shown in Fig. 2, the thermal resistance of roof excludes the insulation layer is 0.25 m2 K/W. Here the optimum thicknesses of four insulation materials for this typical roof with three surface colors (light, middle and dark colors) are determined. Four typical cities of Shanghai, Changsha, Shaoguan, and Chengdu are selected to represent A, B, C, and D subzone of hot summer and cold winter zone in China, respectively. Two typical operation schedules of cooling and heating equipments are analyzed (24-h operation and night time operation during cooling and heating seasons). The properties of four insulation materials are shown in Table 3; the related parameters used in these calculations are given in Table 4. DH* of horizontal roof in four cities are calculated according to Eq. (12) and displayed in Table 5.

L-color, means light color, solar radiation absorptance (SRA) is 0.3; M-color means middle color; SRA is 0.6; D-color means dark color, SRA of 0.9.

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Fig. 3. The optimum insulation thicknesses, LCTop , LCSop and payback periods in four cities considering 24-h operation of the cooling and heating equipments.

(1) 24-h operation of the cooling and heating equipments Fig. 3 shows the optimum insulation thicknesses, LCTop , LCSop and payback periods in four cities considering 24-h operation of the cooling and heating equipments. The impact of surface color on the optimum insulation thickness differs from one city to another (Fig. 3(a)). The phenomena are attributed to the effect of solar radiation on solar-air degree-hours of roof with three surface colors. The solar radiation, as well as the ambient temperature and energy efciency of cooling and heating equipments, is nally revealed by DH* value. The optimum thickness increases with the increase of DH* value and it is in direct proportion with the 1/2 order power of DH* (Eq. (14)). In Shanghai, the optimum thicknesses of insulation materials are basically independent of surface colors, because there is no signicant change in DH* when the surface color is changed (Table 5); while in Changsha and Shaoguan, the DH* increases when the surface color grows dark, which nally result in the increase of optimum thickness. On the contrary, the darker the surface is, the lower the optimum thickness in Chengdu is. Changing the surface from light color to mid-color and dark color, optimum thicknesses of four insulation materials increase 2.25.1% in Changsha and 5.010.9% in Shaoguan, but decrease 3.27.0% in Chengdu. Considering the surface colors, insulation materials and cities, optimum insulation thicknesses of the typical roof vary from 0.065 to 0.187 m over a lifetime of 20 years. The optimum thicknesses of four insulation materials from high to low in turn are 0.1410.187 m for expanded polystyrene, 0.0950.126 m for extruded polystyrene, 0.0720.096 m for foamed polyurethane, and 0.0650.088 m for foamed polyvinyl chloride in four cities, respectively. It is mainly determined by thermal conductiv-

ity and the price of insulation material in the same region. It is clear that the optimum thicknesses of four insulations are 0.0790.171 m in Shanghai, 0.0840.187 m in Changsha, 0.0650.155 m in Shaoguan, and 0.0660.152 m in Chengdu, regarding of the surface colors. The results are mainly owing to the local climates, including the effect of solar radiation on the heat transfer through roof with different colored surfaces and the hourly temperature differences between outdoor and indoor base temperature. Fig. 3(b) and (c) shows the LCTop and LCSop of different insulation materials over 20 years lifetime in four cities. LCTop and LCSop of the four insulation materials are signicantly inuenced by surface colors except Shanghai. The LCTop from high to low in turn are foamed polyvinyl chloride, foamed polyurethane, extruded polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, which is the reverse order of LCSop . Changing the surface from light color to mid-color and dark color, the minimum LCTop are obtained by expanded polystyrene with light colored surface in Shanghai, Changsha and Shaoguan, which are 14.4 $/m2 , 15.2 $/m2 and 12.2 $/m2 , respectively, and with dark colored surface in Chengdu which is 12.1 $/m2 ; The maximum LCSop are obtained by expanded polystyrene with dark colored surface in Shanghai, Changsha and Shaoguan, which are 93.4 $/m2 , 112.2 $/m2 and 74.1 $/m2 , respectively, and with light-colored surface in Chengdu of 74.2 $/m2 . Fig. 3(d) shows the payback periods when applying the optimum insulation thicknesses in four cities. Considering the surface colors, insulation materials and climates, the payback periods vary from 0.9 to 2.3 years. It is clear that the payback periods are 1.01.9 years in Shanghai, 0.91.8 years in Changsha, 1.12.3 years in Shaoguan, and 1.12.2 years in Chengdu

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Fig. 4. The optimum insulation thicknesses, LCTop , LCSop and payback periods in four cities considering night time operation of the cooling and heating equipments.

depending on the four insulation materials and three surface colors. The payback periods are all very short, one reason is that the thermal resistance of roof Rt is extremely low (0.25 m2 K/W) and the DH* is relatively high in cities of hot summer and cold winter zone, consequently a large amount of energy can be saved; the other reason is that some additional costs such as labor and other related materials are not considered. The payback periods of the four insulations from high to low in turn are foamed polyvinyl chloride, foamed polyurethane, extruded polystyrene and expanded polystyrene. Therefore, expanded polystyrene is the best insulation material among the four because of highest LCS and lowest payback period. (2) Night time operation of the cooling and heating equipments Night time operation of the cooling and heating equipments means that the operation time is between 6 pm and 8 am over cooling and heating seasons; this schedule is much more suitable for residential buildings. The optimum insulation thicknesses of the typical roof and the corresponding economic performance have been analyzed. Fig. 4 shows the optimum insulation thicknesses, LCTop , LCSop and payback periods in four cities for night time operation of the cooling and heating equipments. The impact of surface color on the optimum insulation thickness is similar to that of 24-h operation of cooling and heating equipments, the maximum differences of the optimum insulation thicknesses due to different roof surface colors are 0.0060.007 m in Changsha, 0.0050.011 m in Shaoguan, and 0.0040.008 m in Chengdu. Changing the surface

from light color to mid-color and dark color, optimum thicknesses increase 4.910.1% in Changsha and 9.110.1% in Shaoguan, while decrease 6.67.4% in Chengdu. The phenomena are caused by the solar radiation absorbed by roof surface with different colors and the heat stored in the roof during the daytime. The optimum thicknesses of the four materials range from 0.051 to 0.149 m considering the surface colors, insulation materials and climates, which are 0.0610.135 m in Shanghai, 0.0620.149 m in Changsha, 0.0510.123 m in Shaoguan, and 0.0520.122 m in Chengdu. Compared with the results of 24-h operation, the optimum thicknesses decrease about 22.0% in Shanghai, 23.3% in Changsha, 21.0% in Shaoguan, and 20.5% in Chengdu, respectively. This is because the operation time of cooling and heating equipments is shortened which causes the reduction of DH* . For different insulation materials, the largest optimum thicknesses is obtained by expanded polystyrene ranging from 0.112 to 0.149 m in four cities, the following is extruded polystyrene, the optimum thickness of foamed polyvinyl chloride is lowest of the four materials which are between 0.051 and 0.069 m in four cities. Considering roof surface colors and insulation materials, the LCTop and LCSop for the typical roof in four cites vary from 9.4 to 23.5 $/m2 and 28.3 to 70.1 $/m2 , respectively, which are about 30% lower than the results of 24-h operation. The minimum LCTop obtained by expanded polystyrene with light colored surface in Shanghai, Changsha and Shaoguan are 10.9 $/m2 , 11.7 $/m2 and 9.7 $/m2 , respectively, and with dark colored surface in Chengdu which is 9.4 $/m2 ; the maximum LCSop are obtained by expanded polystyrene with dark colored surface in Shanghai, Changsha and

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Fig. 5. Effects of DH* , Rt and PWF on optimum insulation thickness.

Shaoguan, which are 55.5 $/m2 , 71.0 $/m2 , and 53.2 $/m2 , respectively, and with light-colored surface in Chengdu of 39.6 $/m2 . The payback periods for the use of insulation materials with optimum thicknesses are higher than those of 24-h operation, which are 1.22.4 years in Shanghai, 1.12.3 years in Changsha, 1.32.8 years in Shaoguan, and 1.32.7 years in Chengdu. The lowest payback period among the four is expanded polystyrene, and the highest is foamed polyvinyl chloride. The payback period of insulation material decreases if the roof surface grows dark in Changsha and Shaoguan; however, it is quite the contrary in Chengdu. 4.2. Analysis on impact factors of optimum insulation thickness The optimum insulation thickness for a given roof is determined by considering the price and heat conductivity of insulation material, DH* value, present worth factor PWF and thermal resistance of roof excluding the insulation Rt , and is inuenced by some uncertain parameters such as the electricity price, insulation price, ination rate and discount rate. The effects of related parameters on optimum insulation thickness for the selected roof with light colored surface in Chengdu are analyzed considering a 24-h operation for cooling and heating equipments (DH* = 19,200 C h), and also, a sensitivity analysis study of the optimum insulation thickness for variations in four uncertain factors is performed which is very useful for practical use to estimate the optimum thickness of insulation material. Fig. 5 shows the effects of DH* , Rt and PWF on the optimum insulation thickness. The optimum insulation thickness is in direct proportion with the 1/2 order power of DH* according to Eq. (14), the tting formulae (Fig. 5(a)) demonstrate that the power exponents of DH* for the four materials range from 0.5409 to 0.5847 which are basically consistent with the theoretical analysis. It clearly displays that the optimum insulation thickness is higher

for larger DH* . On the contrary, the lower the Rt is, the higher the optimum insulation thickness goes (Fig. 5(b)). As the Rt of the selected roof is very low which is only 0.25 m2 K/W, the optimum insulation thicknesses are relatively high, the values of expanded polystyrene and foamed polyvinyl chloride vary more greatly than those of foamed polyurethane and extruded polystyrene. The effect of PWF on the optimum insulation thickness is shown in Fig. 5(c). PWF is affected by insulation lifetime, discount rate and ination rate together. With the increase of insulation lifetime and ination rate, and the decrease of discount rate, the PWF increases, this nally results in the increase of optimum insulation thickness. There are many uncertain factors that affect the determination of optimum insulation thickness, which mainly includes electricity price (CE ), insulation price (Ci ), ination rate (i) and

100% 80% 60%

Percentage change in xop

40% 20% 0% -100% -80% -60% -40% -20% 0% -20% -40% -60% -80% -100%

20%

40%

60%

80% 100%

electricity price insulation price inflation rate discount rate

Percentage change in uncertain factors

Fig. 6. Sensitivity of optimum insulation thickness for variations in four uncertain factors.

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J. Yu et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 23042313

a
($/m )
2

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3
y = 6.9852x
0.461

b
y = 81.835x
-0.1263

3.0
0.5189

2.5

y = 0.9123x

Payback period (year)

2.0 1.5

LCT op and LCS

op

y = 0.7421x

0.5155

y = 45.211x

-0.1752

y = 9.313x

0.474

DH*=19200 DH*=12750

1.0

4
4

0.5

5
4

CA($K/(mW))
DH*=19200 DH*=12750 LCTop LCSop

CA ($K/(mW))

Fig. 7. Payback periods, LCTop and LCSop versus CA of the four insulation materials.

discount rate (d). Changing the above four factors based on the given values listed in Tables 3 and 4, the mean variations for the optimum thicknesses of four insulation materials are calculated. Fig. 6 shows the sensitivity of optimum insulation thickness following a modication in the uncertain factors. Results indicate that the effects of electricity price and insulation price on optimum insulation thickness are much more sensitive than ination rate and discount rate. The optimum insulation thickness varies linearly with the ination rate and discount rate, while the change in optimum insulation thickness becomes much smaller with every unit increase in electricity price and insulation price. The optimum insulation thickness xop increases with the rise of electricity price and ination rate, when electricity price rises 90%, an increase of 42% in xop is achieved, while ination rate rises 90%, xop increases 4.1% only; on the contrary, it decreases with the increase of insulation price and discount rate, when the insulation price and discount rate increase by 90%, the xop decreases by 30.5% and 18.3%, respectively. Thermal conductivity and price of insulation material are the two main factors which should be considered for selection of insulation material. CA calculated by multiplying the thermal conductivity and the insulation price Ci is used as the performanceprice index to evaluate the economic efciency of insulation materials [22]. Fig. 7 is the relationships of LCTop , LCSop and Np versus CA of the four insulation materials when DH* are 19,200 and 127,50 C h (night time operation and 24-h operation of cooling and heating equipments, light colored roof in Chengdu). It indicates that with the increase of CA value, the LCTop and Np increase while LCSop decreases, so insulation material with the lowest CA value should be selected as the most economical one, because it has the highest LCSop and lowest Np . According to CA value of each material (Table 3), the economic efciency of four materials in turn are expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, foamed polyurethane and foamed polyvinyl chloride. If the CA is 2.0 $ K/(m4 W) (expanded polystyrene), LCTop , LCSop and Np are 9.7 $/m2 , 39.6 $/m2 and 1.3 years for night time operation, and 13.1 $/m2 , 74.5 $/m2 and 1.1 years for 24-h operation, respectively. Therefore, CA is an effective index for the evaluation of economic efciency among different insulation materials and can be used to select the most proper insulation material.

subzone of hot summer and cold winter zone in China, respectively. Four insulation materials including expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, foamed polyurethane and foamed polyvinyl chloride are analyzed. LCT, LCS and payback periods resulting from the use of insulation materials with optimum thicknesses are calculated based on life cycle cost analysis. The effects of present worth factor, thermal resistance and climate on the optimum thickness of four insulation materials and their payback periods are studied; the major ndings and conclusions derived from this study are summarized as follows:

5. Conclusions In this study, the determination of optimum insulation thickness on residential roof is analyzed using solar-air cooling and heating degree-hours. Four typical cities including Shanghai, Changsha, Shaoguan and Chengdu are selected to represent A, B, C, and D

(1) Solar-air degree-hours method is introduced in this paper, this method not only considers the heat transfer by conduction due to the temperature difference between outdoor and indoor, but also considers the effect of solar radiation on the heat transfer through building roof. Considering the night time operation and 24-h operation for cooling and heating equipments, the CDH* and HDH* for horizontal roof in four cities are calculated and displayed in Table 2. (2) The impact of surface color on the optimum thickness of insulation differs from city to city. In Shanghai, the optimum thickness is basically independent of surface color; in Changsha and Shaoguan, the optimum thickness becomes higher when the surface grows dark; While in Chengdu, the darker the surface is, the lower the optimum thickness is. Changing the surface from light color to mid-color and dark color, optimum thicknesses of the four insulation materials increase 2.25.1% in Changsha and 5.010.9% in Shaoguan, but decrease 3.27.0% in Chengdu considering a 24-h operation of cooling and heating equipments; optimum insulation thicknesses increase 4.910.1% in Changsha and 9.110.1% in Shaoguan, but decrease 6.67.4% in Chengdu considering night time operation. (3) Among insulation materials, the optimum insulation thicknesses from high to low in turn are expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, foamed polyurethane and foamed polyvinyl chloride. The maximum LCSop are obtained by expanded polystyrene with deep-colored surface in Shanghai, Changsha and Shaoguan, with light-colored surface in Chengdu. Considering a 24-h operation of cooling and heating equipments, optimum thicknesses of selected insulation materials and cities vary from 0.065 to 0.187 m over a lifetime of 20 years; the payback periods change from 0.9 to 2.3 years; the maximum LCSop are 93.4 $/m2 in Shanghai, 112.2 $/m2 in Changsha, 74.1 $/m2 in Shaoguan and 74.2 $/m2 in Chengdu. Considering night time operation of cooling and heating equipments, Optimum thicknesses are about 20% lower; the payback periods

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vary from 1.1 to 2.8 years, the maximum LCSop in four cities are 55.5 $/m2 , 71.0 $/m2 , 53.2 $/m2 and 39.6 $/m2 , respectively. (4) DH* is put forward for the total effect of local climate, the operation time and the energy efciency of cooling and heating systems. As the DH* values vary considerably in hot summer and cold winter zone of China, the optimum insulation thicknesses show a signicant variation from city to city, therefore, the calculations should be done separately for each city of this zone. Also, the effects of present worth factor and Rt on optimum insulation thickness are investigated, the lower the Rt is or the higher the present worth factor is, the higher the optimum insulation thickness goes. According to the sensitivity analysis of optimum insulation thickness for variations in four uncertain factors, the effects of electricity price and insulation price on optimum insulation thickness are much more sensitive than ination rate and discount rate. (5) CA is an effective performanceprice index to evaluate the economic efciency among different insulation materials. Insulation material with lowest CA value should be selected as the most economical one. According to CA value, the economic efciency of four materials in turn are expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, foamed polyurethane and foamed polyvinyl chloride. References
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