Performance of VIP Insulated Building Envelope in Extreme Cold Climate

Energy use per person in Canada is among the highest in the world. Buildings consume about one-third of our total energy demand. This ratio is even higher in extremely cold climate regions. The most affordable and effective way to reduce energy consumption in buildings is to develop highly insulated building envelopes. There are several high-performance thermal insulations such as polymeric foam, aerogel, and vacuum insulation panel (VIP). Among these insulations, VIP offers at least five times the higher thermal insulating capacity than others. This unique characteristic of VIP makes it an ideal candidate for applications in the construction of new and retrofitted building envelopes. However, the uncertainty about the service life of VIPs in exterior building envelope applications is the issue yet to be addressed conclusively by the researchers and engineers. In recent years, researchers across the world have worked to address this issue, and several studies involving laboratory investigations and numerical modeling have been reported, but the lack of real-life field performance data is a significant impediment. This paper presents the critical analysis of the results from a field study conducted over 11+ years in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.