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The Science

Insulation works by slowing the movement of heat (convection, conduction and radiation) from a hot area to a cooler area.

The effectiveness of an insulator is determined by its lambda-value, which refers to the thermal resistance of the material the insulation is made of. The lower the lambda-value, the better the material resists heat flow through it.

The U-Value represents the sum of the resistances of all the materials in a building element, to give (for example) the effectiveness of a whole wall at stopping heat transfer. Again, the lower the U-value, the better.

The equivalent American system uses R-values to measure thermal resistance. These are simply the inverse of U-values, so a higher value means the wall will stop heat more effectively.

Application

You can insulate your walls, floors and loft/roof.

There is a massive range of insulation on the market today, ranging from shredded recycled newspaper to sheep’s wool to vacuum-packed, space-age panels. The cost of each material varies enormously and each one generally has an ideal application dependant on available space and budget.

Thermal Bridges

Even a well-insulated house has weak points, across which heat can escape into the outside world – these are known as “thermal bridges”. By working high density insulating blocks into the fabric of a buidling and deploying other techniques, these escape routes can be closed and heat loss can be reduced significantly.