Energy Efficiency
Today a quarter of the energy produced worldwide is used to heat and cool homes and commercial buildings.
The Energy Mass™ wall eliminates skin loads isolating the exterior environment from the interior conditioned space. The internal layer of thermal mass stores free energy, in some cases removing the need for mechanical heating or cooling. In wineries and cold storage facilities which require an abundance of cooling, reducing these demands makes on-site electrical generation and net zero building achievable.
The Energy Mass™ wall addresses energy efficiency through the materials and layers of its’ construction in two different ways. The thermal mass of the concrete layers exposed on the interior and the exterior of the wall sandwich a core of insulation.
Thermal mass or the ability to store heat, is also known as volumetric heat capacity (VHC). VHC is calculated by multiplying the specific heat capacity by the density of a material: specific heat capacity is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one kg of a material by one degree Celsius. It is the property of building material to absorb, store, and later release heat or cool energy. Energy stored in the mass can delay and reduce peak loads, reducing total energy required and works best when mass is exposed on the inside surface to provide a battery to store free energy.
Heat Transfer 6AM
Heat Transfer 12PM
Heat Transfer 12AM
Insulation (measured by an R-value) are materials that inhibit the flow of heat. Heat flows naturally from a warmer to a cooler space. The higher the R-value the greater the resistance to heat flow and less energy is needed for heating and cooling to maintain conditioned space. The Energy Mass™ wall’s insulated core is constructed of two ICF panels with spacers that create a cavity of various widths from 4” to 14” depending on the spacers used. The panels are made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and bring an insulation value of R-22 to the assembly.
Instead of filling the cavity with concrete as the insulated concrete form manufacturers recommend, the Energy Mass™ wall fills the cavity with a two-part pourable expanding foam that yields an R-value of 7 per inch. The insulation required by code in residences is R-19. A 2x6 stud wall with fiberglass batt insulation. The Energy Mass™ wall achieves R-50 for the Residential 4” cavity up to the Cold Storage R-120 for the 14” cavity.
The Energy Mass™ wall is designed to take advantage of onsite energy such as solar thermal, night sky radiation, ground source and diurnal temperature swings. The interior layer of concrete has radiant tubing embedded to heat or cool the entire wall. Radiant heating and cooling are efficient, quiet, and healthy.
In climate zones that have diurnal temperature swings between night and day the unique construction can maintain comfortable temperatures in a passive way through night cooling. The system exposes the external thermal mass to the environment to create a thermal flywheel which absorbs massive amounts of heat energy during the daily cycle before transmitting through the envelope and cooling off at night. The insulated core separates the two thermal masses, allowing little to no heat transfer over the course of the day. The internal thermal mass layer is a battery to store up free energy to keep interior temperatures steady and extremely constant.
