Part B energy saving techniques and renewable energy

Interior design of house for energy saving

Roof and loft when house is heated with central heating system, the heat rises up toward the roof. In a

non-insulated house one-fourth heat is lost through roof. In order to reduce heat loss and gas bills, loft of
house should be well insulated. A simple insulated loft is effective for at least 40 years and money spent it
can be well recovered in 40 years.
Cavity wall According to property of heat energy, it always follows warm area to cold area and in time

of winter, surrounding of house is much cold as compared inside the house. In a non-insulated house,
approximately, one-third of heat is lost through the wall. According to survey done by energy saving trust [7]
in UK, most of the houses built from the 1990s onwards have wall insulated to keep the heat in. But the
houses, built before 1990 dont have their wall insulated and most type of walls of such houses can be
insulated in one way or other.
Solid wall The houses built before 1919, mostly have solid wall rather than cavity wall. In cavity wall,

the brick used built the wall has gaps in them and in solid wall; the brick used dont have such gap. This gap
in brick act as insulator and as it is absent in solid wall, solid wall loses twice as much heat as cavity wall
do. Today there are options to stop or reduce heat lose through solid walls.
Floor Other way to reduce heat loss of house is to seal the gaps between skirting board and floor. These

gaps can be fixed by sealant tube (super-glue). Suspended timber type of floor is found in older homes and
laying mineral wool insulation beneath floorboard can insulate this floor. In new houses, the ground floor is
built using solid concentre. Laying rigid insulation on top it, for example thick carpet, can insulate this type
of floor.

Insulating windows All houses loss heat through its window. In order to reduce heat loss and reduce

electricity and gas bill of house, windows should be glaze. The glazing can be double, triple or secondary
glazed. Other alternative can be putting heavy curtains but this option is less effective.
The figure 4, on left shows simple diagram of heat loss in non-insulated house and on right shows typical
improvement needed to reduce the heat loss. The figure 5 shows thermal image of non-insulated house on
left and according to this figure, it can be seen that most heat loss is through walls of house. In the same
figure, on right show thermal image of well-insulated house and in this figure, it can be seen that 95% of
heat loss is reduced as compared to non-insulated house thermal image. The table.2 shows the cost of
improvement required for typical mid-terrace house in UK. This table also show reduction in CO2 emission.

Figure 4 Typical non-insulated house and required improvement [4] [5]

Figure 5 Thermal images of non-insulated house and insulated house [6]