AbstractsPhysics

Conduction is the heat transfer from a body with warmer temperatures to a body with cooler temperature through steady matter. This report focusses on the amount of energy lost via heat transfer by conduction through insulated parts of a house, namely the walls, the floor and the roof. The problem that is being approached is to create a model to find a possible solution on how energy can be saved, by improving the insulation of a single family house in Sjaelland, Denmark. Therefore, four possible solutions have been run through a self-written program, which simulates the heat loss through conduction in a specific reference house under certain circumstances. There are outcomes for adding additional layers of insulation to either the walls, the floor, the roof or all three areas, showing how much energy can be saved in comparison to a house without additional layers. Most importantly, adding one more layer to the roof is the most efficient one, with respect to the boundary conditions, making the model realistic. In the end, we are able to successfully write and run a program which is based on a real situation, and calculates the amount of energy that is lost through heat transfer, by conduction through insulation. Based on our model, we suggest that improving the wall insulation by adding additional layers of insulation of 10 cm thickness is the most energy efficient solution for a single-family house. However, changing the boundary conditions might also change the effectiveness of the four introduced solutions.