Thermal performance of thermal paint and surface coatings in buildings in heating dominated climates

Simpson, A; Fitton, R; Rattigan, IG; Marshall, AS; Parr, G; Swan, W

Abstract

A purported approach to reducing heating energy in solid wall “hard to heat” housing is the simple application of a thin layer (< 1mm) of thermal paint containing insulating additives. The objective of this study was to test the energy saving claims by a systematic study of the material characteristics and thermal performance of internal coatings using accepted international standard test methods. The coatings have been compared with conventional internal coverings such as emulsion paint, wallpapers and expanded polystyrene liner. A dynamic model of the Energy House research facility has been used to evaluate energy savings, costs, and payback times.


The thermal resistance of the thermal paint coatings was generally found to be not much better than that of conventional vinyl textured wallpapers with a lining paper. When all building heat losses are considered, modelling predictions for thermal paint coatings indicate an unfavourable payback period of several hundred years, and energy savings of between 0.4% and 2.9% depending on coating thickness and type. The evidence from the results and models, as well as scanning electron microscopy, do not support the claims that the additive powder particles are effectively nano-porous, evacuated, or that the coatings have low emissivity surfaces.

Citation

Simpson, A., Fitton, R., Rattigan, I., Marshall, A., Parr, G., & Swan, W. (2019). Thermal performance of thermal paint and surface coatings in buildings in heating dominated climates. Energy and Buildings, 197, 196-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.04.027

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 16, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Apr 26, 2019
• Publication Date: Aug 15, 2019
• Deposit Date: Apr 29, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 26, 2020
• Journal: Energy and Buildings
• Print ISSN: 0378-7788
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 197
• Pages: 196-213
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.04.027
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.04.027
• Related Public URLs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/energy-and-buildings