Comparison of Building Codes and Insulation in China and Iceland

Abstract

Heat load for a sample building with and without insulation using Chinese and Icelandic building codes was calculated in this paper. The results show that the calculated heat load in Icelandic codes is bigger than that of in Chinese for the un-insulated building. However, when insulation is added to the building envelope, heat load decreases 45.4% in Chinese codes. If the thermal insulation property is improved to satisfy the Icelandic standard, which was valid at the time of construction for the sample building, the heat load decreases 70.4%, which indicates that improving thermal insulation and insulation properties could reduce energy consumption significantly.