Are you losing money and increasing your energy consumption by not having a properly insulated home? Having an effective insulation system is a crucial aspect in maintaining your home or building. The same company you trust for roofing Dexter, MI is one you can also rely on for all of your insulation solutions. Here’s a quick rundown of all the things you need to know about insulation:
Insulation—making the right choice
The obligation to insulate buildings has become very clear. With issues of rising energy prices over the longer term, security of energy supply based on Ireland’s reliance on imported fossil energy, and the potential for fuel poverty as heating costs rise in poorly insulated existing buildings, it is actually not just a positive investment but a critical one. With the various grants which are now available and coupled with rising energy costs there has never been a better time to insulate.
Before we delve into the amount of insulation recommended in each building element, it’s important to make a clear decision as to which insulation we should use.
All thermal insulation generally performs on the same basic principle: heat moves from warmer to colder areas. Thermal insulation separates the heated space from the cooler unheated space and it is the resistance of the thermal insulation that determines how long it takes for heat to transfer to the cold side. Therefore, on cold days, heat from inside a building seeks to get outside. On warmer days, the heat from outside the building seeks to get inside. Insulation is the material which slows down this process.
There are many forms of insulation on the market, which generally contain pockets of gas (e.g. air or pentane to name two), which resist the transfer of heat. At some stage, it is inevitable that heat will escape, but effective thermal insulation will slow down this process significantly.
Thermal insulation significantly reduces the energy required to heat buildings. In fact, if sufficient quality insulation is correctly installed in buildings, such as those built to the Passiv Haus standard, this can offset the requirement for any conventional heating system! Such buildings require a very low energy input for space heating, 90% less than that of conventional buildings. There are examples of this in over 10,000 Passiv Haus’s which are now constructed throughout the world, a number of which are built in Ireland.
In recent times insulating materials have played second fiddle to some of the more visual, plug on, “sexy”, renewable energy solutions. However, no matter what form of energy is used to meet the heating and cooling demands of a building, if it is not sufficiently or properly insulated, energy loss is inevitable.
Insulation should be an absolute priority at the early stage of any construction project. While budget is central to any building project, when choosing the type of insulation you require it is important to look beyond mere price comparisons, and evaluate the range of benefits each insulation material provides and its suitability for the job in hand.
Read the full article at energyquarter.com
