The Need for Energy Efficiency
updated 12 Apr 2011
Global warming is a now a major issue around the world. Governments
are currently looking at ways to reduce our carbon emissions; this will mean
that for both the house hold and industry electricity prices will increase.
There is now a need for structures to be more energy efficient then
what is currently being built.
The Ecohousing Structural Insulating
Building Panels (SIP’s) are able to full fill this need.
Current
insulation works on the principle of heat saturation, meaning that the
insulation must first trap heat before it will work once it is saturated the
heat is radiated back into the structure, this is a huge disadvantage in a hot
climate.
The polyurethane core will work in both a hot and cold climate
due to it insulating on an exclusion basis not a saturation basis.
Look
at a freezer the internal temperature is around minus 22°C, if you place
your hand on the outside (the freezer wall is 50mm thick) it is room
temperature, amazing and Ecohousing Panels are much thicker. There are also no
thermal bridges in Ecohousing Building Panels.
Ecohousing panels also use
widows that have very low u-values, stopping loss of energy through the
windows.

Energy required for heating and cooling in two similar sized
houses, house one, the competitor house is a conventional built house, house two
uses the Ecohousing Building Panels, the difference is significant. The saving
in electricity translates to a saving of CO2 emissions for the environment and a
saving of money for home owners and businesses.
The Building Codes of
Australia have set down requirements for insulation (R values) in all aspects of
a structure. On the next page is a map showing regions that Australia is broken
up into, following are the tables for the required R values for each region, it
can be seen that the Ecohousing Building far exceed the requirements. Ecohousing
Building Panels R Values are calculated only on the polyurethane core, values
increase if the coverings are included.