Abstract
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FOR ENERGY PERFORMANCE OF VARIOUS SKELETON SYSTEMS IN THE MIDWEST
Sherif Attallah*, Alexander Mitchell and Tamer Breakah
ABSTRACT
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), residential buildings in Indiana consumed approximately 18% of the state?s total energy usage during 2017. Additionally, the Indiana Residential Code was most recently updated in 2020, after having not changed in 15 years, showing a renewed interest in improving residential building performance. Various strategies have been used in the past to reduce energy consumption or to make buildings more thermally comfortable throughout the seasons, and this is commonly seen in vernacular architecture throughout the world. In the Middle East, a typically hot and dry climate, buildings were traditionally built out of thermally massive stone and brick to help dampen the temperature swings, however this practice has moved recently to insulated concrete forms (ICFs). While the state of Indiana has a mixed-humid climate, very different from the Middle East, ICFs still provided a promise of dampening temperature swings, and providing thermal bridge free insulation. While ICFs may be more expensive than traditional wood-framed walls, energy modeling has shown that they can reduce the annual space conditioning consumption in single family detached residences, and the potential to reduce the need for larger sized mechanical equipment.
[Full Text Article] [Download Certificate]