Keywords: zero-energy, moisture, heat transfer, mold, climate change, co2 emission, insulation, health.

In this paper, a residential non-insulated building located in Switzerland-Zurich is investigated. The reason of choosing this building was mold growth in summer-time. The initial humidity measurements and infrared thermography showed that moisture was high in this building and it could be the reason of the mold formation. It was observed that mold had grown more in the places that were the structural intersections, since thermal bridge can occur in these locations. Hence, the building was insulated by using HP-K Pro insulation material. This material had lower operating cost in comparison with other insulation materials, and it was more effective. For more investigations and validations, this building was also evaluated by COMSOL software. By comparing the results for insulated and non-insulated buildings, it was observed that the HP-K Pro insulation material was effective, and it could decrease the moisture by half. Moreover, liquid or capillary flow did not occur across the insulated walls. The temperature of the walls was increased so that lower energy was required for heating. The calculations showed that insulation could reduce the risk of mold formation significantly. The results are confirmed by the experimental observations for mold growth in cold weather. In conclusion, HP-K pro could provide healthy and improved indoor air quality, and decreased the energy consumption by 20%.

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