Insulation to save water and energy

 

It may seem incredible, but poor home insulation is responsible for up to 65% of the energy consumed in a building. Making your home much more efficient is as simple as improving insulation, and it doesn’t require major renovations.

Systems like tiled roofs quickly and easily increase a home’s insulation. Furthermore, the roof is the most important component of good thermal insulation, as it’s the part of a home where the most energy is lost.

Energy saving

Proper insulation can reduce energy consumption by up to 50%, thereby lowering our electricity and natural gas bills.

Let’s see how energy is lost depending on the area of ​​the property:

• Exterior walls 30%
• Roof 35%
• Air renewal 10%
• Windows 13%
• Soils 7%
• Thermal bridges 5%

Many people wonder why improved insulation translates into energy savings. In this sense, it’s vital to know that good insulation prevents cold from entering our homes and heat from escaping, resulting in a more stable interior temperature. Thanks to this, we’ll need less energy to achieve a comfortable temperature in our homes. Furthermore, if we manage to save energy on air conditioning, we’ll also save on water, achieving an additional economic benefit.

However, energy savings are not the only benefit of good thermal insulation:

• Thermal comfort: Through thermal insulation, we can achieve much greater thermal comfort inside our homes, without having to use our air conditioning systems to the fullest.
• Acoustic comfort: Through insulation we achieve acoustic absorption, reducing airborne and structural noise and increasing acoustic comfort.

Insulation: the key to energy savings

Reinforcing insulation in building construction is a key factor in energy savings. In this regard, compliance with the Energy Efficiency Directive is mandatory in Spain.

In 2007, the RITE (Royal Decree for the Regulation of Thermal Installations) was approved. This Royal Decree improves the regulations for thermal installations. This regulation outlines various actions to be taken to increase the energy efficiency of heating and cooling equipment.

In addition to this regulation, there are several European regulations related to energy consumption, as well as the energy supply sector and end-user sectors. Among these regulations, we highlight CEN/TC 89, a standard for energy standardization applicable to buildings, particularly to energy transfer through building components and thermal insulation. This standard includes rules for expressing relevant thermal properties and requirements, as well as for calculation and testing methods, data entry of climatic indicators, and the effects of humidity. The previous standard, 88, refers to materials and products for thermal insulation.