Quantitative analysis and multi-index evaluation of the green building envelope performance in the cold area of China

Abstract

In China, relevant standards about building energy efficiency and green buildings have resulted in corresponding requirements for the envelope thermal performance. However, improvement of the thermal performance of the envelope is accompanied by an increase of the environmental impact and cost. This study quantitatively analyzed the thermal performance, environmental impact, and cost of the green building envelope in cold areas and established a common practice database, as well as a multi-index evaluation model. The results show that the best thermal performance improvements are 40% in residential buildings and 30% in public buildings, respectively, based on the relevant standards. The exterior walls and windows have the greatest impact on building heat consumption. There is no significant correlation between the heat consumption and the comprehensive heat transfer coefficient of 10 green buildings. Therefore, the comprehensive heat loss coefficient is corrected. The verification results show that all errors except project 10 are within 15%. Additionally, the projects with balanced thermal performance improvement of exterior walls and windows showed a better performance. Finally, the best combination of residential building envelopes in the cold area was selected, using the evaluation model and quantitative database to calculate the comprehensive score.