Investigation of the economic performance of different insulation materials

Energy is an indispensable factor in production and one of the most important indicator for the social and economic level of countries. In Turkey, which is a developing developing country, industrialization and rapid population growth lead to a rapid increase in energy demand. In the late 1900s, consecutive oil crises and political conflicts between countries increased the energy cost, bringing a great burden to natinonal budgets and raised the importance of efficient use of energy. Condisering the fact that the energy consumption for heating-cooling purposes in buildings corresponds to one-third of total consumption, establishment of some standards, regulations and laws for energy saving has become necessary. In this regard, the TS 825 Standard in our country is the main standard for the efficient use of energy for heating and cooling purposes in houses. It is an undeniable fact that buildings constructed in line with the standards will reduce environmental and noise pollution as well as energy saving. In this study, the cases for a single-storey building in four climate zones in Adana, Çanakkale, Artvin and Gümüşhane provinces were investigated by using brick, pumice, gas concrete as wall construction material for the outer walls and by using XPS, EPS and rock wool as insulation material by identfying non-insulated and insulation thicknesses pursuant to the TS 825. In this manner; energy consumption performances, fuel consumptions and pay back periods of insulation costs over fuel consumption costs are examined. Conseuquently, lowest insulation thickness and cost as per TS 825 is in the first climate zone, which denotes for sample building in Adana since it has the mildest climatic conditions. On the other hand, fuel consumption cost of the sample building in the forth climate zone in Gümüşhane, is the highest and the highest fuel savings of 76-77% is also achieved in Gümüşhane comparison with other provinces when insulation is applied as per TS 825. As regards the payback periods of the insulation, insulation cost is amortised over 3.9-4.8 years in Artvin and Gümüşhane provinces in shortest periods. Besides, giving consideration to price-performance criteria, lowest costs to fulfil the TS 825 standard for outer wall insulation are to be incurred for Adana, first climate region by applying non-insulated aerated concrete; for Çanakkale, second climate region, by using bims+2cm EPS; for Artvin, third climate region by using pumice+2cm EPS and for Gümüşhane, forth climate region by applying pumice + 8cm EPS.