Comparative Analysis of Building Envelope Performance across Income Levels for Enhancing Thermal Resilience during Heatwaves

The increased occurrence of extreme heatwaves in communities can have disproportionate impacts on vulnerable low-income communities. The study of building envelopes and their role in reducing thermal vulnerability lacks a specific focus on lowincome groups, which indicates that there is a research gap. This research explores the performance of the envelope in reducing thermal vulnerability across different community income levels. A Department of Energy (DOE) prototype building was selected and Atlanta was chosen as a case study to explore thermal resilience across three different income groups: low-income, middle-income, and high-income. The Energyplus simulation indicate that the peak cooling load is significantly higher for lowincome groups compared to high-income groups (8.4 kW vs. 14.2 kW). Additionally, the energy usage during extreme heatwaves in low-income community groups compared to medium and high-income community groups is larger (3804.29 MJ vs. 3000.07 MJ). This suggests that with an improved and tailored building envelope the thermal vulnerability can be reduced.