The increasing insulation levels imposed by building regulations have the effect of reducing heating energy use, while increasing cooling energy use and/or reducing thermal comfort especially in summer. Adaptive insulation technologies could provide an opportunity to reduce building energy use while simultaneously improving indoor environmental quality, but there is a lack of information about the performance of these novel technologies.

This paper is the first of a two part study, which aims to evaluate the performance of adaptive insulation. Part 1 proposes a simulation framework for optimising adaptive insulation design and control parameters and explains its implementation. The customised simulation strategy optimises design and control aspects of adaptive building envelopes by minimising the total primary energy use and thermal discomfort within a building. Moreover the simulation model for adaptive insulation is validated qualitatively. Part 2 applies this framework in a parametric study to explore the potential of adaptive insulation.