With money and bills being the dreaded judge of all homes, people are becoming more and more eager to become more energy efficient to reduce the cost of living. One of the biggest ways that people lose money is through heating being wasted and lost due to poor insulation. Most homes nowadays are made with energy efficiency in mind and are built with effective thermal insulation within the walls and layers of a house.
It is also having a big impact on the environment and the government and environmental agencies have never provided as much support and promoted the incentive to help reduce our carbon foot print. This can be done in almost every home throughout the UK and not only will it benefit the environment and greenhouse layer, it will also benefit you in the financial department quite significantly.
Insulation
Companies such as Celotex are constantly designing and adding new technology to their thermal insulation solutions to provide you with the most energy efficient and effective insulations available on the market whilst remaining cost effective. Their latest product, Celotex FR500 features some of the most unique advances in thermal history with a lambda value of 0.021 W/mk giving it an exceptional A+ rating.
Installing such an insulating material in your home, you could save hundreds of pounds on your heating bills throughout the year as you will not be required to put your heating on as frequently for as long. Easy to install, it can be used in a number of different places in a number of different ways. Purchasing insulation to top up your current insulation is a great way to endure no heat escapes and can simply be placed underneath your existing insulation. However, if you are looking to replace your current insulation, then it is well worth going for an insulation that is at going to last and be effective.
The assumption amongst many home owners that the only area of a house that needs insulating is the loft is a mistake that can cost a lot of money. Although this is an important area to take care of, the walls and floors are also just as important to insulate to protect heat from escaping.
Proving to be one of the most valuable and beneficial investments home owners can make, especially in period properties where it is unlikely that the current insulation is very effective, choosing to insulate properly is a process that benefits a much larger area than just your own home.
Passive Solar Building Design
This is not the only way however to reduce your carbon footprint and help maximise you thermal energy efficiency. A method that is becoming increasingly popular, especially in new build housing is maximising the use of your homes windows, floors and walls to collect, store and distribute solar energy in the form of heat. Adaptive to only do this during seasonal climates however, this method collects and distributes the heat during the winter months when heating within your house is needed and rejects the solar energy during the winter months when the natural climate is higher.
The reason as to why this is best suited for now homes, although it is possible to get them fitted into older period homes is because the location and positioning of each window is important to the success of this method. Optimized to catch the most solar energy, the glazing type also has an impact as this controls the amount that is gathered.
This innovative design feature is a good way of gathering heat without the aid of solar panels that can have a massive impact on the thermal insulation of your home. When combined with well insulated walls and roofs, passive solar design is a revolutionary new method of maximising the use of your gathered energy.
In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design or climatic design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it doesn’t involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.
The key to designing a passive solar building is to best take advantage of the local climate. Elements to be considered include window placement and glazing type, thermal insulation, thermal mass, and shading. Passive solar design techniques can be applied most easily to new buildings, but existing buildings can be adapted or “retrofitted”.
