Determination of Optimum Insulation Thickness for Building Walls in Iran Using Life Cycle Cost Analysis

Air-Conditioning (AC) systems are responsible for a considerable portion of energy consumption in buildings located in high cooling load requiring regions of Iran. In addition, the heat flow through the buildingschr('39') external walls plays a major role in cooling load estimations for the countrychr('39')s hot regions. Therefore, the application of insulation materials in external walls has gained more interest in recent years. In the present research, a systematic approach to optimize the insulation material thickness has been developed and applied to those regions in Iran which require high cooling load, namely Bandar abbas and Bushehr, through deploying life cycle cost analysis. Moreover, a correlation between optimum thickness and thermal conductivity of insulation materials has been recommended for the buildings located in the above-mentioned hot regions of the country. The study has showed that the relationship between optimum insulation thickness and thermal conductivity has a non-linear trend and obeys a polynomial function.