Impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildings

Abstract It is very different from that of ordinary buildings due to the unique operational characteristics of university teaching-office buildings, and the energy-saving potential is huge, among them, the building’s exterior envelope is an important factor in its energy loss. It is an important bas...

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Main Authors: Zu-An Liu, Yan Li, Jiawen Hou, Lei Tian, Shengcheng Wang, Wentao Hu, Lili Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-04-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00045-y
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author Zu-An Liu
Yan Li
Jiawen Hou
Lei Tian
Shengcheng Wang
Wentao Hu
Lili Zhang
author_facet Zu-An Liu
Yan Li
Jiawen Hou
Lei Tian
Shengcheng Wang
Wentao Hu
Lili Zhang
author_sort Zu-An Liu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract It is very different from that of ordinary buildings due to the unique operational characteristics of university teaching-office buildings, and the energy-saving potential is huge, among them, the building’s exterior envelope is an important factor in its energy loss. It is an important basis for building energy conservation to explore the influence of the thermal parameter of the building exterior envelope on energy consumption from the perspective of thermal theory. Meanwhile, most of the buildings are old in university, limited by the actual conditions, studying the energy-saving optimization scheme from the main influencing factors and actual characteristics is a prerequisite for achieving high efficiency and energy saving. Therefore, based on the actual characteristics of university buildings, the influence law of the thermal performance of the exterior envelopes on energy demands is explored in this study through numerical simulation, and an energy-saving optimization scheme is proposed based on the existing materials. The results show that: (1) For university buildings in Chengdu, the energy-saving effect of the interior thermal insulation in exterior wall is the best; (2) the effect of insulation material type on total annual load tends to be the same as the insulation thickness is increased and stabilizes after the energy savings rate reaches 20%; (3) the selection of facing materials with low solar radiation absorption coefficients for exterior wall and roof has a much higher impact on cooling loads than on heating loads; (4) the suitable range of the heat transfer coefficient of the exterior window is 2.5 ~ 3.5, and the solar heat gain coefficient is 0.1 ~ 0.5; (5) using the optimization scheme can be saved by 18% of the heating load, 33% of the cooling load, and 28% of the total load compared to the status quo. The research results can provide a theoretical basis and data reference for energy-saving renovation of educational buildings.
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spelling doaj-art-33fa7c834c5b49b9b9abbf8150494efd2025-08-20T02:55:21ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-0115111710.1038/s41598-025-00045-yImpact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildingsZu-An Liu0Yan Li1Jiawen Hou2Lei Tian3Shengcheng Wang4Wentao Hu5Lili Zhang6School of Civil Engineering, Xuzhou University of TechnologySchool of Civil Engineering, Xuzhou University of TechnologySchool of Civil Engineering, Xuzhou University of TechnologyFaculty of Environmental Engineering, The University of KitakyushuSchool of Civil Engineering, Xuzhou University of TechnologyInstitute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ural Federal UniversityCollege of Architecture and Urban-Rural Planning, Sichuan Agricultural UniversityAbstract It is very different from that of ordinary buildings due to the unique operational characteristics of university teaching-office buildings, and the energy-saving potential is huge, among them, the building’s exterior envelope is an important factor in its energy loss. It is an important basis for building energy conservation to explore the influence of the thermal parameter of the building exterior envelope on energy consumption from the perspective of thermal theory. Meanwhile, most of the buildings are old in university, limited by the actual conditions, studying the energy-saving optimization scheme from the main influencing factors and actual characteristics is a prerequisite for achieving high efficiency and energy saving. Therefore, based on the actual characteristics of university buildings, the influence law of the thermal performance of the exterior envelopes on energy demands is explored in this study through numerical simulation, and an energy-saving optimization scheme is proposed based on the existing materials. The results show that: (1) For university buildings in Chengdu, the energy-saving effect of the interior thermal insulation in exterior wall is the best; (2) the effect of insulation material type on total annual load tends to be the same as the insulation thickness is increased and stabilizes after the energy savings rate reaches 20%; (3) the selection of facing materials with low solar radiation absorption coefficients for exterior wall and roof has a much higher impact on cooling loads than on heating loads; (4) the suitable range of the heat transfer coefficient of the exterior window is 2.5 ~ 3.5, and the solar heat gain coefficient is 0.1 ~ 0.5; (5) using the optimization scheme can be saved by 18% of the heating load, 33% of the cooling load, and 28% of the total load compared to the status quo. The research results can provide a theoretical basis and data reference for energy-saving renovation of educational buildings.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00045-yTeaching-office buildingBuilding exterior envelopeThermal performanceNumerical simulationBuilding energy-saving
spellingShingle Zu-An Liu
Yan Li
Jiawen Hou
Lei Tian
Shengcheng Wang
Wentao Hu
Lili Zhang
Impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildings
Scientific Reports
Teaching-office building
Building exterior envelope
Thermal performance
Numerical simulation
Building energy-saving
title Impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildings
title_full Impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildings
title_fullStr Impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildings
title_full_unstemmed Impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildings
title_short Impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching-office buildings
title_sort impact of exterior envelope thermal performance on energy demand and optimization strategies for university teaching office buildings
topic Teaching-office building
Building exterior envelope
Thermal performance
Numerical simulation
Building energy-saving
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00045-y
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