Experimental research on performance of the solar heat gain (SHG) insulation panel

Recently, research on energy efficiency for buildings has been performed due to a shortage of energy and increased concern about the environment. Building envelopes have vital roles in energy efficiency. Insulation depth, opening designs, double skins and other methods have been discussed to improve the performance of building envelopes. Among these methods, the use of opaque insulation has a role for blocking the inner heat loss, but also for inefficiently blocking the natural solar heat coming to the inside of a building. This paper looks at a way of bringing solar heat to the inside of a building, which is impossible with normal insulation. The research measures the amount of heat gain and provides the possibility of energy savings through solar heat in a test building. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.