The economic efficiency of using new thermal insulation materials in cold climate

The aim of this study was to establish criteria for the economic feasibility of using new thermal insulation materials in place of traditionally used materials for the thermal protection of engineering structures. Two scenarios were considered: the complete replacement of one material with another and the combined use of traditional and new thermal insulation materials. The criterion used was the ratio of the cost of materials required to achieve the standard thermal resistance of the entire insulation system. New indicators describing the relationship between the economic and thermophysical properties of materials were developed, particularly relating the specific cost of thermal insulation materials (cost per unit volume) to their thermal conductivity coefficient. To generalize the analysis, novel indicators were introduced: price simplex, thermal simplex, and thermal resistance simplex.We concluded, from an economic perspective, the use of new materials instead of traditional ones is justified if the ratio of the costs of the new and traditional materials does not exceed the reciprocal of the ratio of their thermal conductivity coefficients—that is, if the price simplex is lower than the reciprocal of the thermal simplex. Specific examples demonstrate the application of this methodology in evaluating the feasibility of using thin-film thermal insulation materials instead of mineral wool to achieve equivalent thermal protection. The analysis shows that, at current prices, thin-film materials are tens of times more expensive than traditional mineral wool insulation, even when accounting for a significant reduction in mineral wool’s thermal resistance due to moisture during operation. The results of these calculations clearly illustrate the newly established relationship between the economic and thermophysical characteristics of thermal insulation materials.

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