The evaluation of innovative insulation materials for energy efficiency in civil engineering

Thermal insulation term is the most important measure that provides the thermal
comfort which human being has been looking for as a natural habit from the first
residential lifestyle begins.
The inventions in this topic, especially has been arisen in last centuries and
specifically in the last century it has been carried forward and both aesthetic and
performance based products have been researched to be discovered.
In the light of researches each in academic and practical fields, the hope of this
demand to be provided is increased via innovative insulation materials.
Accordingly, to compare traditional and other insulation materials to innovative
insulation materials, figure out the pros and cons and to contribute the literature is the
aim of this thesis.
By starting with a wide chamber to a narrowing view and outlining the innovative
insulation materials, the method used to explain in this thesis is; to create a
knowledge group over lots of books, internet sites, journals, publications etc., to
classify the materials per this knowledge, to outline, represent the innovative
insulation materials class and to gain the reader knowledge in this subject via results,
recommendations and to point out possible researches and spots which needs to be
lightened in the future.
To understand the thermal insulation term, the heat term is first need to be
understood, it's behavior and to identify how heat loss occurs, how much of it and
how should it be prevented are important topics. Air is continuously in a tend to
travel from a hot region to a cold region. This ends up with a need of preventing the
air escape in winter and preventing the air coming from outside in summer. Thermal
insulation materials are used to minimise the passage of the air through a wall
section, and these vary due to their basic properties. Each material also has a specific
heat capacity. Materials with high heat capacity will store the energy and delay the
warming of a room. It is also important to look from this point when selecting the
material. Also, to prevent thermal bridges (cold bridge) is a key factor to avoid heat
loss. These capillary gaps cause heat flow continuously and lets heat pass.
Subsequently, thermal comfort term and requirements of thermal insulations values
in different countries should be known and designs should be carried in accordance
with these. Thermal comfort is a temperature zone where a person feels comfortable
to spend time in an area. This value is higher where people spend more time whilst it
is 1-2 C less in rooms like bathroom and toilet. A person should be living in between
certain degrees because of human nature or will feel uncomfortable and will look for
alternative solutions. Parallel to this, each country has requirements for thermal
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transmittance values (U-value). These values are lower in cold climates and higher in
hot climates.
Another topic which concerns individuals is the term also known as "energy
efficiency" which states the fuel consumption needed to provide demanded
temperature in a space. Again in this field, popularity of green buildings is increasing
to minimise the fuel consumption and inevitably the importance of thermal insulation
materials have been realised related to this. Expenses to heat the house is climbing to
a disturbing rate because of heat loss and low energy efficiency even though it is a
basic need. The possibility of saving 40-50% of these expenses with simple tackles
shows us the importance of this sector. Known as green buildings, graded as an A
class in Building Energy Ratings are expensive during construction but the expenses
due to energy saving redeem itself in short periods which has been proved by lots of
researches. Energy Performance Certificate; states the stamina of the house against
heat by a specialist and gradation of the house's thermal condition between A-G
where A is the highest and G is the lowest. A lot of country requires this certificate
before selling or renting properties. Individuals can easily have a clue how much the
costs might be by looking at these certificates.
Further to that, after understanding these terms it will be much easier to see which of
the properties are key for thermal materials and which of them are widely used. The
layers in the wall section like paint, plaster, thermal insulation material, brick or
block layer are directly involved in thermal transmittance according to their thickness
and thermal properties. For example, brick stores heat because of being thick and it's
specific heat capacity being high. Another important definition is thermal
conductivity value. Each material has a unique thermal conductivity value and
thermal transmittance changes due to section thickness and thermal conductivity. It
is possible to see the material thermal conductivity value on the label of products.
The primary materials widely used around the world are EPS, XPS, rock wool,
fiberglass, polyurethane, panel and foam types of these. They are also called as
traditional insulation materials. They are satisfying both as costly and thermally at
the present, but required thermal transmittance values are likely to decrease against
the global warming and cooling, and this will end up with thicker usage of present
materials or usage of alternative materials.
In this study, traditional, organic, innovative and textile thermal insulation materials
are classified and innovative insulation materials are outlined. Nevertheless,
innovative insulation materials have been discovered to tackle the problem
mentioned above as result of researches. For example, transparent insulation
materials are widely used in glass facade buildings. Again being in this class
Vacuum insulation panels have up to 10 times better thermal properties than
traditional materials. Numeric examples are also given in this study. Also gas filled
panels, naturally aggregated materials and materials made of textile wastes are being
subject to competitive researches.
It is possible to make some conclusions in the light of all above. In consequence of
these conclusions, there are areas where researches should be carried out and points
to focus on to show progress. Particularly, two materials could be called as unique.
Yet they are too expensive and they also have some lacks. For example, the service
life of vacuum panels are not as long as demanded. They are likely to keep same
thermal properties for 30-50 years and subsequently unpredictible values are likely to
occur. It is also a necessaty to teach working force how to apply such materials.
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Hence, generally daily payed workforce would cost more than normal to apply these
already expensive materials which obstructs these materials being widely used.
Turkey's position in energy efficiency has also been evaluated in this research and
been shared as a summary. Opinions has been outlined about what point it could be if
being used innovative insulation materials by comparing to other countries.
This research also referes to how Turkey can jump ahead in energy efficiency (which
is way behind other European Countries) by applying correct policies, but that users
should be encouraged to use certain materials or they will continue using materials
they think are the most economic ones.