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Building insulation: Practical energy guide for building refurbishment. Insulation, the best solution.
This guide, intended to be accessible to lay readers, is aimed at presidents of residents' associations, estate managers, in short, members of the public who, as users of residential properties, are those who feel whether the indoor environment is comfortable or not, and pay the associated bills.
Implementing the measures proposed in this guide –which are aimed at improving the thermal insulation of buildings– could yield savings in terms of energy, money and carbon dioxide emissions, of around 30%, as a result of reduced energy consumption by buildings' heating and cooling systems. Insulating a home means ensuring that those of its components in contact with the outside are made more resistant to heat transmission. This can be achieved by incorporating insulating materials in external walls, roofs, floors, partition walls and cavities.
Guía práctica de la energía para la rehabilitación de edificios. El aislamiento, la mejor solución.(Practical energy guide for building refurbishment.Insulation, the best solution.).
Fitting insulation is not difficult
The basic idea the guide tries to put across is that "refurbishing a building to improve its thermal performance is not as difficult or expensive as it might at first seem and has considerable advantages; although not expressly planned, it could always be considered when you have decided to carry out any other kind of work on the building."
Building refurbishment is usually the result of a specific need arising due to a particular problem or deterioration. However, government bodies have recently started to bring in a new idea: thermal refurbishment. If it is necessary to refurbish, it should be done in a way that takes energy criteria into account. The reason is simple: over half of all buildings in Spain have been built without proper thermal protection, i.e. without adequate insulation.
These buildings devour energy and are often those that need refurbishment for other reasons. This guide therefore tries to offer an overall solution: once the refurbishment of a building has become necessary, it is the time to include insulation to reduce energy consumption.
20% of total energy consumption It should be borne in mind that energy consumption by homes in Spain accounts for around 20% of the country's total consumption, and that over the last 15 years a steady upward growth has been observed.
Moreover, Spain is highly dependent on energy supplies from abroad, with energy imports accounting for 80% of supply. This means that any measures to save energy are beneficial, both for the individual consumer's energy bills, and for the economy of the country as a whole.
The recent entry into force of Royal Decree 314/2006, 17 March 2006, approving the Technical Building Code (Código Técnico de la Edificación – CTE) includes among its goals a reduction of buildings' energy consumption by imposing stricter legislation.
CTE partially transposes the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (2002/91/EC), which obliges member states of the European Union to implement specific measures to ensure the energy efficiency of both new and existing buildings is improved.
The Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade (MITyC), through its 2008-2012 Action Plan for the Energy Saving and Efficiency Strategy for Spain, includes a strategic measure aimed at improving insulation. Any refurbishment work entails a cost which must be evaluated. Being aware of this, MITyC-IDAE has earmarked financial aid for refurbishment work which will reduce the energy consumption of the buildings concerned.
All the information in six sections The information in this practical guide is structured in six sections.
The first section sets out the conditions under which a homeowner or user could or should consider refurbishing and fitting insulation.
The second section highlights the benefits to the user or owner of retrofitting insulation.
The third section lists the types of buildings that are suitable for refurbishment.
The fourth section describes how to perform the refurbishment, whether on the facade, the roof or the floors. It also covers the replacement of glazing and windows and other measures to insulate the building's systems.
The fifth section includes information on the technical and administrative processes that a user or owner needs to follow when he has decided to retrofit insulation.
Lastly, the sixth section offers a series of examples, showing the development of a simple practical case involving the refurbishment of a home in a block of flats by means of facade insulation.
