Towards the development of new energy performance indicators for the external walls of residential buildings

•Nine new metrics were developed as potential wall energy performance indicators.•The metrics were assessed for different wall types and a wide range of climates.•The equivalent U-factor was found to be a superior indicator for housing.

This paper assesses nine types of dynamic and equivalent U-factors for their ability to predict the relative energy performance of different types of external walls, with varying levels of insulation, thermal mass and solar absorptance, when used in housing. A simulation analysis is undertaken to determine the energy performance of different wall designs at eight cities, and to determine the dynamic and equivalent U-factors of those walls. The results show that there is a strong correlation (R2 > 0.7) between wall energy performance and the equivalent U-factor at all but the coldest of the locations. The equivalent U-factor shows promise as a wall energy performance indicator for global housing.