Two major items relevant to integrity of buildings envelope are heat transfer and moisture protection.
Heat transfer loss or gain can be controlled in the following ways through the building envelope:
Adequate insulation of walls, roof, windows and doors
- Adequate insulation of walls, roof, windows and doors
- Proper weather proofing to prevent water infiltration
- Control air movement through normal openings and seal deficiencies
Where wall insulation is not possible in old buildings, insulation may be added to the external portion of building and quote it with new weather proofing cladding.
Adding insulation to the roof helps to prevent heat loss in winters and excessive heating in summers through roof. Insulation through a membrane covered with silver color polymeric paint helps minimize heat transmission.
Single glazed, insufficiently sealed windows can be replaced with fiber glass window panel. Double glazed unbreakable units (as recommended by Ontario) provide better results than above mentioned single glazed glass windows. Other solutions include:
- Triple glazing provides added air space & weight for insulation.
- Glass coating to helps reduce heat emission and reflection.
- Low emissive coating to reduce radiation of heat through glass and achieve insulation as in triple glazed glass which is uncoated.
- Gas fill - fill space between panes with Krypton or Argon to increase insulation.
- Triple glazing utilizing LOW-E with gas fill gives a much better performance.
Summer heat or winter chill can be avoided by shading or curtaining inside or shuttering outside. If single glass window causes large heat loss or gain, they may be covered with insulated wall panels.
External heating cable may be installed in a foundry to prevent formation of ice in gutters, down pipes, driver ways etc. manual controls may be crude and imprecise and may cause high energy consumption. This may be prevented by integrating controls of all energy systems in a Central Building Management System.
Other EMOS
House keeping :
- Regular inspection and maintenance of water impervious roof membrane.
- Inspect door seals at loading docs and fix any damages promptly.
- Examine cracks in vents, windows etc for air leakages into the building or from within the building.
- Seal the openings and cracks with weather stripping or caulking .
- Keep doors closed for heat loss.
Low Cost :
- Replace open doors with auto shut doors or revolving doors to reduce losses.
- Seal unused openings and stacks.
- Fill up all cracks in building walls.
- Upgrade weather stripping of windows and doors.
- Eliminate un necessary windows and glass walls.
Retrofit; High Cost :
- Cladding or treating exterior walls for weather proofing.
- Leak proof vapor barriers on interior side of walls, ceilings or floors.
- Installation of Central Building Energy Management System.