Simulation of the behaviour of transparent insulation materials in buildings in northern China

A simulation model has been developed to analyze the potential of the appli cation of transparent insulation for passive salar buildings in northern Ch ina. The potential advantages of using transparent insulation materials in buildings are estimated, in which the effects of variations in solar radiat ion have been taken into account. By simulating the monthly auxiliary energ y requirement of the building and the solar fraction variation due to trans parent insulation, it is found that if the traditional south brick walls ar e covered by a 10 cm thickness layer of honeycomb material in the Beijing a rea, an increase of solar fraction will be around 39%, corresponding to a s olar heat gain of around 137 kW/m(2) year. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.