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Picture Tells The Story
7th November 2008
It is becoming more difficult to not only calculate the energy efficiency of a building, but also to verify the performance achieved in the completed construction and in performance over time. It is also becoming apparent that buildings are just not achieving the design levels of energy efficiency.
For users of ICF construction systems the scenario is quite frustrating, since Insulated Concrete Formwork is extremely practical and reliably achieves higher
performance standards without recourse to long winded calculations to justify performance achieved. The simplicity of the materials’ format makes it easier to build correctly and, given their robust nature, ensures a much longer useful life without any deterioration in performance.
As it becomes clearer that current design calculations of energy performance are proving unreliable as measures of actual performance, an alternative means of identifying how the fabric of a building performs is becoming more desirable and thermographic imaging is increasingly being employed as a practical method of reviewing the energy performance of building fabric.
Just as the normal photograph of a building displays its shape, doors, windows and all the details of waste pipes, ventilators, flues etc., so the thermograph of a building shows all the same details – but not as bricks, glass, timber and pvc pipes. Instead, the thermograph shows all these features in terms of their relative temperatures, identifying quite clearly where energy is being lost through the building envelope. For a building which is performing well, the thermal image will show an even pattern of shading with the doors and windows a brighter colour than the walls, reflecting the lower level of insulation of glazing systems relative to a well insulated wall.
In areas of poor detailing or workmanship however where, for example, there are no cavity closers, loose fitting insulation has collapsed or door seals have not been fitted properly, the thermograph shows more intense colour emphasising each location where energy is leaking out of the building. By means of thermographic survey it consequently becomes much more practical to determine why a building does not achieve the designed energy performance.
In terms of ICF construction it is also helping to explain why insulated concrete formwork buildings are consistently producing better energy performance figures than alternative construction methods. Or, put another way, thermographic imaging is helping to explain why ICF systems are achieving such good performance standards.
