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| Designing Your Home to Save Energy |
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In this article we will address why insulation and heat retention is so important to your house and your energy bills. We will give a quick overview as to what insulation problems may exist in your house, and suggest areas to look at to remedy the situation to keep the heat and energy in your house. By conserving energy in your home, you can save money on your energy bills, help to conserve fuel resources and promote a cleaner environment.
Most houses built in Ireland, especially those built before 1980, are wasteful of energy due to their original design. Nonetheless there are many cost-effective energy saving opportunities that can remedy the design flaws. These measures will allow you to reduce your fuel and electricity bills, and most will pay for the outlay through energy cost savings in your bills in a relatively short period of time. Through the implementation of energy conservation measures in your house you can also make your house warmer, more comfortable, and eliminate cold air draughts and condensation.
In other articles we will be looking at specific areas such as Walls, Attic, Windows and Doors as well as room specific opportunities to reduce energy usage. Here we will specifically address some more general recommendations to help reduce your energy usage.
One of the first things you should look at and address is to make sure that all windows and external doors are checked for draughts and if necessary, draught proofed to reduce heat loss. It?s important though to make sure to leave adequate ventilation for fresh air, particularly where there are fuels burning appliances in rooms.
When it comes to replacing windows large energy savings can be achieved if you
choose double glazed units, especially those with Argon fill and low-emissivity glass. The additional benefits of using this type of double-glazing is that the comfort level of the house will be greatly increased, cold draughts will be reduced, external noise will be substantially reduced and condensation on windows will be either eliminated or greatly reduced.
If possible always close your curtains to save heat. Lined curtains are even better still at heat retention. Also there are a number of ways in which wall insulation can be increased and improved. The return on investment period will depend on a number of factors such as the type, thickness and quality of existing insulation. Currently the most popular types of insulation systems are, (A) insulated dry lining, (B) blown mineral or cellulose fibre or polystyrene beads in the cavity, and (C) rigid external insulation with render or brick finish. It is advisable where wall insulation is concerned to seek specialist advice in all cases.
Looking at the bigger picture, energy conservation can help reduce polluting emissions that damage the environment, it can also help provide new employment not to mention reducing Ireland?s fuel imports bill.
Currently the majority of our energy comes from oil, coal, natural gas and peat. All of these sources of energy will as some point run out, as these resources are finite in quantity. If we continue to consume fossil fuels at current consumption levels, fossil fuels will run out within a generation or two. Whilst burning these fossil fuels we are releasing pollutants into the atmosphere, which adds to smog, acid rain and in the longer term, climate change through global warming.
So what can you do in your house to help conserve energy? Specific measures you can examine include:
- The design and shape of the building
- The insulation of the building fabric
- The use of energy-efficient heating and lighting systems, and controls
- The use of energy-efficient appliances
Heat loss through the fabric and construction of the building can be substantial, and in this, and other more specific articles, we are going to look at methods of insulating your home to reduce this energy and heat loss.
Lets examine the insulation of the Building Fabric. The insulation should be evenly distributed over all your home as it generally produces better results than applying additional insulation to a couple of specific areas. Also, it is more efficient to have a good overall level of insulation than, for example, a highly insulated attic roof but no wall insulation.
Typically the amount of heat and energy in a badly insulated house lost through the roof will be 30-35% of heat loss, 25-30% lost through the walls. Heat loss through a poorly insulated ventilations flue accounts for 25%, the windows will account for 15% and 7%-10% of heat loss escaping through the floor.
The measure of heat loss in a building is called a U-value. It?s the calculation and measure of the rate at which heat is lost from a building, such as through a wall for example. The lower the U-value, the better it is for your home energy efficiency and overall comfort.
Areas of Heat Loss in Homes
By increasing the insulation thickness it will not necessarily produce a pro-rata reduction in U-value, there comes a point where the economic return on investment on extra insulation for any one specific type of insulation will be virtually nil.
When selecting insulating materials, choose those that have an Irish or British Agrément Board Certificate. This certificate will give you information on the Technical Specification, Design Data and Installation recommendations for the material.
Good workmanship and attention to detail are most important when insulating your home to avoid thermal bridging, which occurs in small areas where the insulation level is reduced significantly compared with the remainder of the types of insulation in the house. Thermal Bridging and other related problems could have greater impact on overall heat loss than simply increasing the thickness of insulation. Some measures are more cost-effective than others and you will recover your return on investment through reductions in your energy bills more quickly than others. These measures should be undertaken first, and are outlined throughout this article and other ?Maximise Your House for Energy Savings? articles.
Insulate Walls with a ~Max U Value 0.27
Insulate Attic Roofs at joist level with a ~ Max U Value 0.20
Insulate Floors with a ~ Max U Value 0.25
Another major area for heat loss reduction is to examine your Hot Water Cylinder. Insulation of the hot water cylinder and pipes is one of the quickest and simplest ways to conserve energy in your home and reduce your energy bills.
The hot water in the cylinder will stay hot much longer and you will definitely save money on heating bills by fitting a lagging jacket. Did you know that on average an 80mm cylinder jacket can cut heat loss by 75% and could pay for itself in just three months!
Also if your cylinder is already insulated, but the jacket is less than 75mm thick, it is worth considering getting a new one. Take care not to cover the cap of the electric immersion heater with the lagging jacket. Indeed if you need to replace your cylinder, consider one of the many new cylinders that come with a preformed foam insulation jacket. These preformed cylinders are more efficient and also less bulky than a cylinder with a separate jacket giving you more storage space in your hot press.
Recent government legislation to encourage Conservation of Energy and the Building Regulations was introduced in 2002; the theme of the legislation being to set in place minimum energy efficiency standards for new buildings. The Building Regulations 2002, Part L Conservation of Fuel and Energy, require that all new buildings achieve minimum standards of energy efficiency. Existing houses should be refurbished to achieve these standards also. Levels of insulation higher than those required in the Building Regulations are in many cases worthwhile, since a house being built or refurbished today can be expected to be occupied for 60 years or more, and an energy-efficient design can yield considerable savings over its lifetime.
For more information on Conservation of Energy and the Building Regulations 2002 please go to: www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Energy/Energy+Legislation/
Additional information on insulation and energy efficiency is outlined in the other ?Maximise Your House for Energy Savings? articles.
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