Innovative Technologies for Building Envelope to Enhance the Thermal Performance of a Modular House in Australia

Buildings consume energy and are responsible for a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Increased standards are being set for building thermal performance. Given the rising demand for energy-efficient housing solutions, this work explores the potential application of innovative technologies to enhance the thermal performance. Since modular construction is attracting popularity owing to numerous advantages, including its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, optimising the thermal performance is a way to further improve its popularity, particularly in diverse Australian climates. Smart materials are unique and have desirable properties when subjected to a change in the external environment. Integration of smart insulation materials in prefabricated buildings forecasts a potential to expand the horizon of thermal performance of prefabricated buildings and subsequently lead towards an enhanced energy performance. This work investigates the effects of aerogel, phase change materials (PCMs), and electrochromic glazing. To assess their potential to improve the thermal performance of a modular house, building energy performance simulations were conducted for three different climatic conditions in Australia. Individual implementation of innovative technologies and their combined effects were also quantified. The combination of the three innovative technologies has yielded total annual energy savings of 15.6%, 11.2%, and 6.1% for Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane, respectively.