Research on Energy-Saving Transformation of Rural Residential Building Envelope Structures and Heating Modes in Northeast China

Rural areas in Northeast China present a large demand for heating energy in winter, but there are problems in such areas with poor thermal performance of building envelopes and poor indoor thermal comfort. In addition, coal-fired boilers are still widely used. China’s “Dual-Carbon Goals” and “Clean Heating” policy call for the creation of a green and comfortable living environment for rural residential buildings. This paper considers the impact of the improvement of the thermal performance of envelope structures on the initial investment of the transformation program and the rated power of the ASHP and proposes an energy-saving transformation method to replace traditional coal-fired boilers with the ASHP on the basis of the improvement of the thermal performance of envelope structures. By establishing a typical rural residential building model in Northeast China, this energy-saving method is simulated based on TRNSYS. The results show that the payback period of investment of the transformation method of “envelope structure + heating system” is not superior to that of the transformation method of only improving the thermal performance of the envelope structure, but it has advantages in the comprehensive life-cycle benefits and it has great advantages in improving the satisfaction of rural residents in the use of heating systems.