Insulation Benefits

Energy Efficiency

These days 'energy effeciency', 'sustainable energy', 'greenhouse emissions' are phrases that we hear almost every day.

The basic logic behind using these terms when talking about insulation is that by installing insulation you can save 45%-55% in the energy required to heat and cool your home.  Insulation means that you are using energy consuming applicances such as air-conditioning, fans and heaters less.  It's that simple.  This helps your budget as well as the environment!

Warm in Winter, Cool in Summer!

Insulation helps keep heat outside in summer and inside in winter.  When an insulating material such as cellulose fibre is present in the structure of the building (celings, walls and even floors), the flow of heat through the structure is reduced.  The insulating material prevents heat from transferring through to a conductive material such as a tin roof, by acting as a barrier between the heat and the roof.  So, it is all about preventing heat-transfer.

Heat can be transferred a number of ways:

• Radiation
• Conduction
• Convection

You can learn more about Heat Transfer on Wikipedia, but here is a basic description 

Radiation
A good example of radiation heat is when in winter we often will put our hands up towards a heat source such as a bonfire to warm them.  The heat from the bonfire is directly radiating onto our hands.  So radiation heat transfer is about how heat travels and transfers itself directly from one place to another.

Conduction
Conduction occurs when objects of different temperatures touch each other directly.  Solid materials such as metails conduct heat very well.  This is why a lot of stove tops have metal elements  - because it is good at transferring heat from the element to the pot.

Convection
A good description of how convection works is to think about how hot air rises.  We know that when you place our hand above a candle we can feel it's quite hot compared to when our hand is to the side of the candle.  The same principle occurs in your house, and a good example of this is in your roof cavity.  When warm air comes in contact with a cold surface (such as your roof) it cools down and falls again.

Insulation is the hero in preventing heat transfer in and out of your home.

Cellulose Fibre and Polyster Batt insulation provides resistance to thermal flow and reduces the effect of radiant, convective and conductive heat flow.  Foilboard and Foilwrap in walls or under the roof reflects radiant heat away from the interior during summer.

How good a insulating material is at restricting heat transfer is measured by its R value.  This is also known as thermal resistance or resistivity.  Take a look at our R Value page for more information.