Assessment of the Energy Rating of Insulated Wall Assemblies - A Step Towards Building Energy Labeling

Abstract

Considerable efforts are recently focusing on energy labeling of components and systems in buildings. In Canada, the energy rating of windows was established, which provides a protocol to rate different types of windows with respect to their energy performance. It takes into account the interaction between: solar heat gain, heat loss due to air leakage and due to the thermal properties of the entire window assembly. A major research project, jointly sponsored by NRC-IRC and the polyurethane spray foam industry, was established to assess the thermal and air leakage performance of insulated walls with the focus on developing an energy rating procedure for insulated wall assemblies. This paper is one in a series of publications to present partial results of this project. Experimental data and computer simulation comparison of a set of wall specimens are presented together with a summary of the proposed procedure for the determination of the energy rating of insulated walls (WER).