ABSTRACT
Energy efficient houses and the ambition to build ‘zero-carbon’ dwellings rely on effective thermal insulation. Heat is transferred because a material will attempt to achieve thermal equilibrium with its surroundings. Conduction is where heat energy is transferred because of the physical contact between molecules within a material or between materials that are touching each other. Convection refers to heat being transferred by the movement of a fluid. Heat can also be transferred through the air, or rather through space, from one ‘body’ to another ‘body’ by radiation. Thermal mass refers to the amount of heat a material can store. The rate of heat loss from a building is measured by what are known as ‘U-values’, which are based on the transmission of heat flow through an element. Standard Assessment Procedure is a relatively sophisticated approach to predicting the energy performance and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions from a dwelling.
