Insulation in the modern skyscrapers ?

[fountainkopf]

CO2 emissions are high up and here in Finland the thermal winter came 1 month later than usually.
The heat leaking houses and housing in general causes still 14% of our countrys emissions.
Big houses like skyscarpers ought to be very airtight and warm in winter...are they ? How are they insulated ?

[novawolverine]

Originally Posted by fountainkopf

CO2 emissions are high up and here in Finland the thermal winter came 1 month later than usually.
The heat leaking houses and housing in general causes still 14% of our countrys emissions.
Big houses like skyscarpers ought to be very airtight and warm in winter...are they ? How are they insulated ?

They are supposed to be tight and they are substantially tighter than buildings in the past, in most cases. A lot of the all glass highrise buildings popular in Scandinavia, Canada and the Pacific Northwest wouldn't comply with many US building codes due to the high solar heat gain during the summer. Infiltration is a big factor in heating and cooling. It's pretty common for existing buildings and homes to have tests to identify problem areas. There are a lot of advancements being made w/ respect to control systems, building materials, and equipment that will help buildings be more efficient, but for existing buildings, you have to find out where the problems areas are and then figure out what needs to be done, whether it's insulation, windows, sealing, etc.

[fountainkopf]

Are there numbers for each part of the blg ( walls, windows, roofs etc ) for insulation to be found ?

[novawolverine]

http://reca-codes.org/pages/iecc2009.html

There's a link to some charts of the 2009 international energy conservation code. For the areas you're talking about, I'd look at climate zones 7 and 8. I'm not sure what an appropriate infiltration value would be in air changes per hour @ 50 pascals (ACH50) for a high rise building, maybe 5-7. You could probably start making some assumptions from the info in the link.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ It depends on the material you are using. Fiberglass insulation can range anywhere from R-9 to R-50 depending on the thickness, method of installation, and quality of the material. This wikipedia page should give you some general idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation)


In most of the USA heating is rarely needed during the day in highrise office buildings. So much heat is generated by the people, computers, office equipment, and lighting in the building that they have to run the HVAC in winter in all but the northernmost parts of the USA. Chicago, for example, requires heating for maybe 2-3 months of the year in office buildings despite the fact that the winters here are below 0C on and off for about 5-6 months straight.

[fountainkopf]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

^^^ It depends on the material you are using. Fiberglass insulation can range anywhere from R-9 to R-50 depending on the thickness, method of installation, and quality of the material. This wikipedia page should give you some general idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation)


In most of the USA heating is rarely needed during the day in highrise office buildings. So much heat is generated by the people, computers, office equipment, and lighting in the building that they have to run the HVAC in winter in all but the northernmost parts of the USA. Chicago, for example, requires heating for maybe 2-3 months of the year in office buildings despite the fact that the winters here are below 0C on and off for about 5-6 months straight.

Right we call it U-value here but the same thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation)

The unit for U-value is W/m2K...it defines how much energy goes through the structure..lowest window is 0,5 W/m2K

http://www.termo.ee/fin/uarvo.pdf ( example )

This will give you the insulation thickness for each structure ( wall, roof ); http://www.spu.fi/files/spu/rakenned...UKKO_uudis.pdf

[novawolverine]

R-value and U-value are essentially the inverse of each other. You'll need to look at the building codes to see what the requirements are for insulation in buildings of certain construction. You could also assume that a bit above code is what new buildings are built at.

As for heating during the day in highrises, I think the building has to be pretty densely populated with people and workstations for the heating system to be running only rarely in most of the US. You can feel it when the heat is not working, not to mention the stack effect that necessitates the need for ventilation and conditioning.