Effect of thermal insulation using leather and carpentry wastes on thermal comfort and energy consumption in a residential building

In this work, we investigate the effect of the thermal insulation by leather wastes (wet-blue chrome shavings and buffing dust) and carpentry wastes (wood shavings and sawdust) on the energy consumption of a model building using the average climatic data of the city of Casablanca (Morocco). For this study, we used the dynamic thermal simulation tool “TRNSYS 16” which predicts the thermal behavior of building and systems associated with it. Using this software, we evaluated the effect of the above material wastes on thermal comfort and building energy consumption. The type and the thickness of the materials were considered as variants to choose the better solution. The average temperatures of building supposed thermally insulated compared to those obtained without insulation clearly show the thermal insulation ability of tested materials during the cold and warm periods of the year. Increasing the thickness of the insulator makes locals increasingly comfortable. Because of their performance, leather and carpentry wastes can compete with conventional insulating materials such as polystyrene and cork.