Thermal Welfare and Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings
The coming into force of the Spanish Technical Building Code (Royal Decree 314/2006 of 17 March 2006) imply for the construction sector that there are some measures regarding energy efficiency that are compulsory and need to be stated in the building project.
Any action taken to improve energy efficiency of the thermal closure in new construction buildings, and in those already existing ones, will include having to choose an insulation material which is to fulfil various performances. The goal is to obtain less energy demanding buildings for the very same comfort level inside the premises.
According to the IDEA, The Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving, improvements in thermal insulation in a building can originate energy and money savings as well as reductions in CO2 emissions up to 30% in heating and air conditioning consumption, due to reducing energy losses.
Taking into account that the housing sector is the responsible for almost a quarter of the energy consumption in Europe, as leaders of the sectors we have to focus on a path towards sustainability. Most of all because it is already pointed out by the new directive regarding energy performance in buildings (Directive 2010/31/EU, 2010), so that all new buildings are to be buildings must be nearly zero-energy by 2021.