Characterization of the Effects of Insulating Wall Paint on Space Conditioning in a Room

Abstract

Manufacturers of “insulating paints” continue to enter the marketplace with claims of their products’ exceptional potential toreduce building energy consumption. To help dispel this myth,this paper presents the simple theoretical analysis disproving thisclaim, backed by a more in-depth computational fluid dynamics(CFD) analysis testing the performance of such products. TheCFD analysis is conducted in a simulation of a room as a function of various parameters. The benefits of insulating paint areshown to be minimal; even under highly favorable conditions,energy consumption is reduced by less than 1%