Contribution of Thermal Mass to Energy Performance of Buildings: A Comparative Analysis

Concrete has structural, architectural, and environmental applications in buildings. As one of its advantages, the thermal mass property of concrete plays an important role in a building's energy performance and reduces heating and cooling loads. In this paper, results of an investigation of the effect of thermal mass of concrete on a building's energy consumption in comparison with steel and masonry are presented. For the purpose of this research, three major parameters including height, occupancy, and location of buildings in six US climate zones were considered and maximum cooling load was chosen as the main measuring index of building energy performance. The results have shown that in residential and commercial buildings, the thermal mass property of concrete could reduce the maximum cooling load by 7% to 10%. Office and commercial buildings in Phoenix, AZ and residential buildings in Fargo, ND have shown the highest cooling load reduction of nearly 10% compared with other studied locations. Furthermore, as expected, concrete and masonry have exhibited better thermal mass performance than steel.