The impact of increasing the building envelope insulation upon the risk of overheating in summer and an increased energy consumption

This work describes a study aiming to establish the impact of the increase of the building envelope insulation upon the thermal performance of buildings. A particular emphasis is placed upon the consequences in terms of higher temperatures in summer, potentially leading to increased needs for installation of air-conditioning. This study also describes the coupled influence of other parameters that can reduce overheating, like solar shading and ventilation. The methodology is based on parametric studies obtained through simulations. The comfort analysis methodology is based on the adaptive approach. The results show that, with added insulation, it is necessary to control solar and internal gains more closely to avoid overheating in summer. Results also include the requirements to avoid air-conditioning, in terms of window shading for each level of insulation and internal gains.