Anti-insulation mitigation by altering the envelope layers’ configuration

•Anti-insulation has different behaviour patterns.•Only considering cooling load, it can occur at normal conditions in many climates.•Marine, Humid then Arid is the order of climate susceptibility to anti-insulation.•Using appropriate layers’ configuration can mitigate/protect from anti-insulation.•The configurations preference relies on the internal loads and operation profiles. There is a knowledge gap regarding anti-insulation behaviour. Previous studies pointed to its existence, with questions remaining about its characteristics. This research delved into finding a mitigation strategy where altering the building envelope layers’ configuration was proposed. Using EnergyPlus, six layer configurations were simulated under 13 climates and four occupancy profiles. The Point of Thermal Inflexion (PTI) was the evaluation criteria. PTI is the cooling set-point where the building switches to anti-insulation. Based on annual cooling loads only, the results showed that 80% of the cases had a PTI between 22 and 30°C. The climatic conditions influenced the presence of anti-insulation without a correlation to the layer configurations. Opposite to dry climates (B), the marine climates (C) had the lowest PTI’s. Increasing the insulation levels have always produced a lower PTI, and also reduced the performance variation between the configurations. There was a clear correlation between the occupancy profiles and the configurations sets performance against anti-insulation. Configurations with a thermal mass at its internal face are best for mitigating anti-insulation under Residential and Office profiles. Configurations with external insulation are best under Residential with continuous load profiles, while internal insulation facings are best under Office with continuous load profile.