Eliminating seasonal energy storage needs through envelope design : real-world cost analysis of quadruple glazing in office buildings

Kralj, Aleš (author), Kurnitski, Jarek (author), Žnidaršič, Matjaž (author), Medved, Sašo (author), Domjan, Suzana (author), Halilovič, Miroslav (author)

Space-heating peaks and associated seasonal storage needs remain the bottleneck for zero-emission buildings; windows are pivotal because their thermal losses set winter demand. This study’s objective is to quantify the energy, peak-load, and life-cycle-cost (LCC) impacts of argon-filled quadruple glazing (QGU) relative to triple (TGU) and quintuple (5GU) units, and to derive a climate-robust and energy price level criterion for adoption. We coupled multilayer window models to a dynamic simulation (IDA ICE) of an office floor in two climates (Ljubljana, Oslo) across four native SHGC levels, then performed a 30-year LCC analysis using observed manufacturing prices, gross-margin assumptions, and electricity-price scenarios; we mapped cost-parity as a function of heating-degree-days (HDD). QGU systematically reduced delivered heating energy and peak heating power versus TGU, with a small cooling increase, yielding LCC parity in colder conditions at observed prices and margins; in milder climates, parity depended on higher electricity prices or lower margins. The research con- tributes (i) the first LCC assessment of commercially manufactured argon-filled QGU grounded in measured pricing and dynamic simulation, and (ii) an HDD-based adoption criterion that links envelope choice to lower winter peaks and reduced seasonal storage requirements without added life-cycle cost, offering guidance for high-WWR design and envelope policy.

• Language: English
• Keywords: life-cycle cost analysis, quadruple glazing, zero-emission buildings
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 9 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 84, [article no.] 104687
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-175883
• UDC: 621
• ISSN on article: 2213-1396
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seta.2025.104687
• COBISS.SI-ID: 256920067
• Publication date in RUL: 12.11.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sustainable energy technologies and assessments
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2213-1396
• COBISS.SI-ID: 175448579

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: analiza stroškov življenjskega cikla, štirislojna zasteklitev, stavbe z ničelnimi emisijami