Why are wooden houses warmer than concrete ones in cold regions?
I went looking for data and I saw that both have similar emissivity and similar conductivity. Thus I am confused. Moreover, the density of concrete is much larger than that of wood thus for the same volume concrete houses will require much more energy for the same temperature rise (I have taken their specific heats into consideration, but if I am wrong please point it out). Thus I am baffled by this question and wonder as engineers and physicists, how should we tackle this problem? Besides, can we assume steady state or not?
Best Answer
First let us consider your quote" for the same volume structure concrete houses will require much more energy for same temperature rise ". It, thus, tell that concrete will absorb much more heat from room to rise its temperature whereas wood will absorb less heat to rise to same temperature and keep room warm.
Then I thought concrete is better conductor of heat than wood. Wooden floor never gets much hot in summer while concrete floor burns.
On searching http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html I found Concrete(medium) has thermal conductivity 0.4 - 0.7 Wood, oak : has conductivity 0.17. This tells you reffered some wrong data.
This should solve your problem, since when concrete is better conductor, it will conduct heat inside the room to outside. And wooden house would be warmer.