During the three year research period we will measure the temperatures and humidity in the walls and at the surface of the facade and roof as well as in the interior of the house. The aim of this measuring is to find out the optimal wall composition for the South African climate. For the construction of the house we use 84 mm thick NOVATOP solid wood panels based on CLT. The thickness of the wood fibre insulation by Pavatex (bulk density 145 kg/m3) will wary. During the first year of the research we will use 80 mm thick insulation and 100 mm ventilated air gap, in the second research year we will add 40 mm of insulation and reduce the thickness of the air gap to 60 mm. This will allow us to evaluate the impact of the thickness of insulation on the indoor climate in the specific Climatic conditions of Western cape.
The house is full of sensors which help us to evaluate the indoor climate as well as temperatures and humidity in the walls. There are seven measuring points, each with one sensor measuring surface temperature of the facade, two sensors measuring temperature and humidity in the wall and one sensor measuring the surface temperature of the interior wall. Except these seven measuring points we have three CO2 sensors evaluating the quality of indoor climate and measuring point at the roof. Data from all these sensors are collected and available online for our research team who will regularly publish the results on our homepage, Facebook page as well as in magazines and scientific journals.
We will also compare our results based on measuring in the real house with computed values based on mathematic models. This will help us to find out how far are the models useful for wall compositions of South African Green Buildings.
The cooperation of students, products specialist, architects and builders allows us to see the green building from different points of view and use all the benefits of natural materials.