Source: NAIMA

Project Title: Life cycle assessment of HVAC duct insulation technologies used in building sector in Canada

Funding: $40,000 (2024-2025)

Project Partners:

Concordia University – SEISE Lab The Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure Systems Engineering Lab (SEISE), led by Dr. Fuzhan Nasiri, is at the forefront of systems engineering solutions for sustainable energy applications: http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~fuzhan/

Project Team

The research partnership team involves Dr. Fuzhan Nasiri (PI), Dr. Fariborz Haghighat (Co-PI), and Dr. Ivan Kantor (Co-PI) and a team of graduate students at Concordia University.

Project Description

Insulation of air ducts in HVAC systems could provide a cost-effective way for energy conservation and efficiency as well as carbon emissions reduction. It also helps to maintain a controlled indoor environment with respect to temperature and humidity for occupants’ comfort. However, choosing the proper insulation for HVAC ducts is a challenging task due to variation in the type and shape of ducts, varying airflow rate, pressure, and temperature needs, as well as variations in insulation technologies. Therefore, selection of insulation technologies for HVAC ducts requires integration of design, functional, and occupancy characteristics of the buildings into a holistic analysis of the costs and energy/emission reduction potentials. To facilitate such a decision, the project aims at establishing a framework for life cycle costing (LCC) and environment life cycle assessment (LCA) of HVAC duct insulation technologies utilized in the building sector in Canada.