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RE: Calculating and deciding on thermal insulation for an energy-efficient house
This is quite an interesting piece @alexdory. But I'm kinda wondering; doesn't this effective insulation method invariably turn the house into a mini oven? Especially due to the negligible or close to zero heat loss to the environment?
I wonder because climatic regions around the equator where it is always hot and humid, won't so much insulation become an issue for people who might not have access to air-conditioning?
The system allows water vapors to be evacuated. Keep in mind that the insulation also works the other way around: It keeps heat outside of the house in the summer, making the air-conditioning rarely needed.
The only way the house will be a mini oven is only by actively increasing the temperature inside the house. So if you are known to run a huge Bitcoin mining operation, don't insulate your house :D
And the heat transfer is far from being close to zero, that is something that nobody has managed to do so far.
I can give you a personal example, since I have lived in the same house before applying the insulation: The gas heating costs have decreased to half in 2012 vs 2011 (first graph):
If you look at the last graph you will see how the roof insulation I did in 2015 impacted the consumption again (from 5000 kWh top consumption to 3000kWh). The habits or ambient temps were the same. My personal monthly winter cost for the heating the house (160 square meters - 5 rooms) is under 50 Euro.
I have no idea how this compares to other countries, since Romania has great gas reserves and exports everything to the EU to limit EU's dependence to Russia.
@laurentiu.negrea you might also find the data interesting.
Wow! That is quite impressive - a drop in consumption from 5000kWh to 3000kWh. The impact you've experienced is quite remarkable. And cost of heating during winter being just under 50 Euros is something really bank-worthy too. I guess a lot of African countries need to learn a lot about energy generation and distribution from Romania then.
I'm guessing though that African regions like West Africa and some other countries where energy generation remains a huge problem, would struggle with the adoption of the system. Apart from the fact that most West African countries experience a relatively constant hot climate, there is still a huge challenge of energy and power generation in the region.
Thanks for the further explanation, I now grasp the scope too. Good to know that water vapour evacuation is a part of the system too.
Yes it is.
From what I know, the Chinese are investing a lot in Africa, East more but West too. These countries will also develop soon and they will afford energy efficient materials and techniques. Just a question of time.