Influence of building envelope thermal mass on heating design temperature

Abstract

The stability of indoor air parameters is a very important factor, essential for such institutions as museums, schools and hospitals. Nowadays the use of renewable energy for space heating became one of the top priorities in modern building design. The active and passive solar energy as well as heat pumps are widely used nowadays. However, such technologies have a limitation in cold climates and often are not able to cover maximal heating loads. This paper is devoted to analysis of influence of building envelope's properties and outdoor air parameters on indoor air thermodynamic parameters stability in winter time. It presents analysis of thermal mass impact on building energy performance and indoor air parameter stability in cold climate. The results show that the thermal mass of building envelope is able to cover extreme winter temperatures as well as in case of emergency heat supply break.