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Power Quality and Utilisation Guide
Roeland De Meulenaere
Laborelec October 2007
Energy Eiciency
Insulation & Heating
E n er g yE f f i c i en c y
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Energy Eiciency
Introduction
The scope o this document is to introduce the basic principles o insulation and heating.
Insulation
Why insulate?
Insulation is the best and most direct way to reduce energy consumption related to heating in buildings. Heat is lostdue to transmission through external building elements (walls, windows, foors, roos, etc.). Consequently, the bettera building is insulated, the less heat - and thereore energy - is lost.Besides tting insulation, it is important to ensure that the building is airtight, since ventilation and inltration lossesthrough cracks, crevices and the like also account or much wasted heat. This will reduce the amount o draught andmoisture entering the building and make the walls and foors eel less cold. I a building is properly insulated and airtight,it will require less heating and a smaller (and hence cheaper) boiler may be able to heat the same surace area.Proper insulation requires signicant additional outlay when building or renovating, but this can soon be recouped.The ollowing paragraphs explain some key concepts relating to insulation.
U-value
The U-value (thermal transmittance) indicates the amount o heat lost through the various elements o a building(foor, wall, roo, glass, etc.). The insulation value o a construction element indicates how much heat is transmittedthrough a construction assembly under stable conditions per second, per m2 and per degree o temperature dierence(W/m2.K).The U-value depends on various actors including the thickness and type o building materials used, insulation andglazing. More specically, the U-value is calculated based on the k-value and thickness o the materials.External actors (orientation o the wall/açade/etc., ventilation, tting quality, etc.) are not taken into account whencalculating the U-value.The lower the U-value, the lower the heat transmission and the better the insulation.W/(m
· K)Averagelosses (U)Maximum losses (U) in anenergy-e cient houseExternal walls1.5< 0.5Windows6< 1.3Roos and ceilings< 0.Floors3< 0.35
Table 1: Heat losses through external elements
k-value
This is an intensive material property indicating the amount o heat (in watts) that passes through 1 m2 o a material witha thickness o 1 m and a temperature dierence o 1 degree Kelvin between the two aces (W/m.K). The lower the k-value,the better the material will insulate. This does not mean that materials with a low k-value are necessarily better to useas insulation than those with a slightly higher k-value since the higher k-value may be oset by using thicker material.
E-value
The E-value represents the energy-e ciency o a building based on primary energy consumption. To determine theE-value, all actors infuencing the energy perormance and climate o the building need to be assessed.These are:
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the building’s orientation;
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the air tightness o the building;
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Insulation & Heating
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the ventilation system;
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the use o solar energy (e.g. or hot water) and the degree o sun protection;
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the hot water and heating system.
Technical aspects
Wall insulation
There are various ways o insulating walls. The most eective method depends on the type o wall construction:
Cavity walls
A cavity wall comprises our layers: the acade, an air cavity that limits heat transer, the inner (breeze-block) wall andthe internal plastering which makes the whole thing airtight. Cavity walls can be ully or partially lled with insulationmaterial such as polystyrene oam, glass wool or rock wool.
Massive walls
Older walls without cavities can be insulated on the inside and/or outside. The insulation must be at least 5-7 cmthick. Bear in mind that external insulation may require permission as it expands the building’s surace area.However, insulation is best tted to the exterior wall as it can be covered over with reinorced plaster, panelling orslates. Insulating internally can lead to problems with condensation and to very high temperatures inside the housein summer as the walls are unable to absorb the heat (increased internal inertia).
Roo insulation
With fat roos, the insulation can be tted on the inside or the outside o the roo, above or below the waterproo layer.
Insulating glass
A lot o heat is lost through windows. You should consider replacing single glazing with double glazing or, better still,super-insulating or high-perormance glazing. This insulates ve times better than single glazing and two to threetimes better than double glazing.High-perormance glazing comprises an inner and an outer sheet made o special glass. The space between the twois lled with air or inert gas. It is surrounded by a metal rame tted using an elastic watertight seal. For best resultsthe joinery around the glazing should also be properly insulated.The insulation value o a window is not only determined by the quality o the glass but also by that o the rame,with wooden rames generally making better insulators than other materials. Various types o wood can be used orwindow rames, including chestnut, oak, azelia and alse acacia. Chestnut or oak rames are no more expensive thanaluminium ones.Large glass suraces (skylights, roo domes, etc.) can cause rooms to get very hot in summer. To counter this, high-perormance solar-control glass was developed. This has a special coating that defects or absorbs inrared radiationrom the sun, allowing all the light in but keeping some o the heat out.Glass quality:GlazingU-value (W/m
· K)single glazing5.8double glazing3.triple glazing.1double glazing with refective layer1.9gas lled double glazing with refective layer1.vacum glass0.8
Table 2: U-values o diferent types o glazing
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