Reasons for Energy Rehabilitation of Buildings

In recent times there is a lot of emphasis on the importance of energy rehabilitation of the housing stock of our cities, giving more weight to the renovation of existing neighborhoods in front of the construction of new areas.

It is a policy that in Europe has been practiced since the mid-twentieth century and that in Spain is beginning to be implemented now. But it is not a whim, it is a need that is demanded in our cities for several reasons ...

The energy consumption of our buildings represents a considerable part of our country's energy consumption, so that the Administration is approving ever stricter regulations to reduce such consumption. Since the entry into force in 2006 of the Technical Building Code, the energy demand of buildings has been regulated by adequately conditioning their thermal envelope (facades and roofs), in a way that helps to limit this demand.

This requirement for the envelope of buildings must be met in new buildings and in existing buildings that renew more than 25% of their enclosures.

The facades of the buildings are elements of great thermal inertia . This means that they have the capacity to accumulate heat inside. In summer the facades heat up with the sun and release that heat accumulated at night when temperatures drop. On the other hand, in winter the facades absorb the heat that is generated inside the buildings through the heating systems, releasing that heat to the exterior and diminishing its efficiency.

With well-insulated facades and roofs in our building we manage to avoid this problem by gaining comfort inside our homes and avoiding thermal losses, which allow us to save on our heating bills.

Spain is committed, like all countries of the European Union, to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the protection of environmental reserves and the sustainable development of the planet through the approval of the Kyoto Protocol, the Berlin Conference , etc.

With thermally well insulated buildings, CO2 emissions to the atmosphere can be reduced by up to 60%. The improvement is considerable, but in Spain more than half of our buildings are built with poor or even non-existent insulation. Therefore, the Administration is trying to establish aid and subsidy plans to promote the energy rehabilitation of our buildings.

If our building is thermally insulated, we can reduce the demand for heating and cooling by up to 70% in order to achieve optimal indoor comfort conditions. The reduction of this demand translates into a very considerable decrease in our energy bills, which month after month are generating us a remarkable saving.

For all these reasons we consider that the energy rehabilitation of our buildings is not a passing whim or a fad, but a benefit for all of us as users and also a responsibility as citizens committed to the environment and the sustainable development of our planet.