Experimental Study of Thermal Conductivity of Concrete with Biosourced Material for Saved Energy in Buildings

Abstract This study aims to improve the thermal efficiency of concrete slabs by introducing a plant material. This can contribute to the improvement of internal thermal comfort for buildings and this by lower energy consumption. For this, several experiments were carried out at the laboratory, to find the thermal properties of a new innovative building material produced by inserting ALFA (STIPA TENACISSIMA) into a concrete slab. Several mass percentages of ALFA relative to the total mass of the concrete slab (0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.2% and 1.6%) were studied to see the effect of the introduced quantity of this plant on the thermal conductivity of concrete. It was concluded that the insertion of ALFA in the concrete, decreases considerably the thermal conductivity. The best results are noticed for 1.2% of ALFA, whose thermal conductivity of the concrete is reduced up to 50.61%. As a result, heat gains and losses, through wall or slab, are significantly reduced, which reduces the energy consumed by cooling and heating of homes. In addition, the degree-day method was used to calculate the costs of cooling and heating energy for 58 regions in Algeria. The lowest total energy cost is noticed in the TENES region, while the highest energy cost is noticed in the BORDJ B. MOKHTAR region.