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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
These two books are the perfect starting place to help you get to grips with one of the most vitally important aspects of our society - our homes and living environment.

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General: Why insulate?

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    • CommentAuthorAdam0734
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008
     
    The local Planning regs recommend insulation, but only in the fuzziest of terms. The general import is that insulation is green, and therefore nice.

    My puzzlement is this: my understanding of the benefit of insulation is that it cuts down on fossil fuel wastage by reducing the amount of heat needed to keep a building warm. Which is fine and dandy, in a cold climate. Our climate isn't cold. I can't think of a single residential building that has a heating system. We have a wood-burning fireplace; I think we lit a fire perhaps twelve times last winter, and I spent the whole season in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.

    Under those circumstances, what use is insulation? If anything, surely it's actually harming the environment; we ship everything in, and if it's not doing any good then that's a shipload of fuel gone for a Burton.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008
     
    Where do you live?
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008
     
    oh to have this dilemma!
    • CommentAuthorSaint
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008 edited
     
    I've worked in plenty of hot climates where insulation is a must just on a personal comfort level and before you ask no it wasn't provided to improve the efficiency of the aircon. Few of the people were rich enough to afford aircon in the first place.
    I also recall that for one major insulation manufacturer at one time sales per capita on a type of roofing insulation were higher in Greece than in countries in Northern Europe. In Greece it was to prevent heat gain, in Northern Europe to prevent heat loss
    • CommentAuthorAdam0734
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008
     
    Bermuda. Hence the water tanks I keep wittering on about. ;)

    To be fair, I think the larger commerical builds do have central heating systems, but there aren't that many of them. My focus is on residential build, and unlike, say, the UK, you don't often get companies building 'a development' (ie. a tract of housing); instead, they build single detached houses.
    • CommentAuthorAdam0734
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008
     
    @ Saint: flat roof or pitched? And can you recall the type of insulation?
    • CommentAuthorSaint
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008 edited
     
    Adam, It was XPS for the inverted roof system.
    What memories..... the first and only time I ever won a longest drive competion was at your Castle Harbour Golf Course. Happy days long gone unfortunately

    I do remember very well the local Bermudian (?) system of rain water harvesting with possibly in situ clay roofs that had a spiral track running around them from ridge to eaves. This was some time ago and I'd never really seen anything like it before. Brilliant!
    • CommentAuthorAdam0734
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008
     
    ;)

    Brilliant when people remember to clean their roofs; less so when they don't.

    Inverted roof system - so basically, flat. Mmm. Flat roofs tend to be suntraps IIRC; pitched are better at throwing off heat. The vast majority of our roofs are pitched, in order to trap more water.

    Something to think about . . . Glad you enjoyed the golf!
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeJul 16th 2008
     
    The Australian govt produce a manual that claims "If you are building, buying or renovating, this technical Manual has been developed to show you how to design and build a more comfortable home that has less impact on the environment – a home that will also be more economical to run, healthier to live in and adaptable to your changing needs."

    An important point is that it provides specific advice for all the different climates that Australia has, so you can see what might be applicable where you live:

    http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/index.html

    HTH, Dave
    • CommentAuthorAdam0734
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2008
     
    That's a remarkably useful site. Thanks!

    *ponders* The install would have to be done in such a way as to leave the rafters exposed . . . people love 'em. I don't think it'd be impossible tho, but it is the kind of thing you could only reasonably contemplate as part of a new build.

    The passive cooling bit (in one of the other sections) may also prove handy. I suspect our properties have a relatively high thermal mass (being concrete block with masonry infill for the most part), which, given that our climate is hot & humid both day & night, might not be so clever. I don't see any way of changing that, given that the costs are already through the proverbial roof; adapting to it is the better bet.

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