Impact of climate change on the energy demand of buildings utilizing wooden prefabricated envelopes in cold weather

Abstract

Global energy demand continues to increase, and climate change is affecting the energy consumption of buildings. Wooden Prefabricated Wall Panel (WPWP) systems could represent a hygrothermally efficient solution to reduce buildings’ energy demand in the current and future climate scenarios. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the impact of climate change on the energy demand of buildings utilizing prefabricated envelopes in the cold weather of Quebec, Canada. This study used dynamic simulations on a mid-rise residential building prototype for the 2020 climate scenario and the predictive scenarios of 2050 and 2080 (RCP 8.5 model), utilizing the software DesignBuilder and the EnergyPlus calculation tool. Simulations were conducted on the same building model using three different types of wooden wall systems separately: standard WPWP, optimized WPWP, and a traditional on-site wall system for reference comparison. Results indicate that WPWP systems consistently exhibit superior energy performance compared to the conventional envelope across all climate scenarios, with the optimized one showing the lowest energy demand levels. In all cases analyzed, heating demand decreased by approximately 25 % when comparing the 2020 period to 2080, while cooling demand increased by 91–116 %, depending on the building envelope. The total annual energy demand in each case showed reductions of 1–5 % projected by 2080. The most significant contributions to the envelope’s thermal performance by the WPWP systems were observed during the nighttime period.