A picture is worth... a look into energy efficiency
07 Dec '07 from Cardinal Buildings
Many people understand that their homes or commercial buildings will leak energy. They also understand that over time it will hurt the environment. The problem is that it isn't a big deal to them because they can't see it. It is like telling a 16 year old that the sun can damage their skin. They don't see it happening so they don't worry about it. The easiest way for me to let people know that stick building, even if it does have decent insulation, is not efficient is with a picture. Building with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) is the best way to reduce energy leaks.
SIPs are a strong structural system consisting of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) insulation which is laminated to oriented strand board (OSB) forming a structural panel.
Now let me show you why. These two buildings are almost identical, located in West Virginia each has about 6,000 sf of roof. The photo on the top will show the thermal imaging while the photo on the bottom will show you what we are looking at with the naked eye.
The building on the left was stick built while the building on the right had a roof constructed of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) You can see the roof has multiple large "hot spots". The building on the right is a nice consistent purple showing that there are little to no leaks. The parking lots and road retained heat so they show up as yellow and orange.
Below are the same picures from the other side.
Again the stick built building (now shown on the right) has obvious hot spots while the SIP roof (now shown on the left) has no heat loss.
The use of SIPS greatly reduces energy loss. The direct benefit of using SIPs is that there is less energy loss and in turn there are less greenhouse gases being let out into the atmosphere. So while you can't always see the effect our choices have there are consequences, short term and long term. People can help the environment and themselves if they choose green building materials.
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SIPs
I am about to begin construction on a new home. I have read every thing I can about building green. The frustrating thing is that, for the most part, building green is very expensive on the front end, and most people can afford it. I know I can't. I was interested in photo-voltaics and SIPs myself, among other green processes, but the initial outlay is cost-prohibitive to the average person. If green building products and practices are ever made affordable for the average homebuilder, there will be no obstacle to building green, and everyone would jump on the bandwagon.
SIPs
The good thing about SIPS is while it is more expensive than conventional stick framing the construction time is cut substantially. It depends on the size of the structure but many people cut 30 to 50% of the time it takes to close in the thermal envelope. So you save money on the crew (less people needed for the same amount of work) and time. Also you need a smaller HVAC unit so you save there as well. I do always recommend an air to air heat exchanger to keep the air in the structure fresh but even with the HVAC unit most of our customers still spend less than they would have on on HVAC alone for the conventional building.
Always look at everything you are spending money on when building. If you are building with conventiona stick framing there is more waste. If you have to have a dumpster on site you are paying a laborer to clean the site, load the dumpster, then you pay to rent the dumpster and pay for the weight of the dumpster. With SIPs there is little waste (Even less if you have them pre fabricated) so you save money on all those little things as well.
Good luck on building your new home and I hope you find lots of ways to be green and save money. Just remember that your home is usually the biggest investment you are going to make. Sometimes it is in your best interest to pay for quality up front than spending to much for the next thirty years in energy.
Cardinal Building Systems, Inc.
Building Efficiently for Energy Savings
Amazing
That is truly amazing seeing the heat escaping through the roof and the walls.
Also, are the roads and parking lot lit-up on the thermal picture from absorbing heat for the sun all day?
Retaining Heat
Yes. The roads retain heat so they show up bright yellow. If you notice in the background there is a tan cement parking lot that shows up less bright than the black roads and parking lots around it.
Summer Berry
Cardinal Building Systems, Inc.
Building Efficiently for Energy Savings