Applying Roof Insulation: Energy Savings of 14% Achieved.!

One can keep the summer heat at bay by taking measures like treating roofs, growing green patches, etc., writes Mr. T. LALITH SINGH

Summer is on &  the mercury has started to rise. For ourselves, time to pull out umbrellas, caps, sunscreen lotions & cotton clothes.

Beat the Heat..!

Find all possible ways to beat the heat and stay cool in a sweltering season that has started to unfold.

To ensure a cool and comfortable stay at home during the season, most end up thinking only about fans, air-coolers and air-conditioners.

And to make sure that the power outages do not add further trouble, install power back-up, inverter or generator. Is that all one can do?

May be one can look beyond the reliance on fan, coolers & conditioners.

Few maintenance steps can help in making life during the summer that much more comfortable.

** Start with the roof &  the exteriors since these 2 are the ones that take the maximum heating.

** Roof is the largest source of heat gain, especially in low-rise buildings, notes the Environmental Building Guidelines for Hyderabad Metropolitan Area prepared by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) & Terra Viridis. The guidelines prepared on behalf of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) calls for proper treatment of roof to reduce heat gains during the daytime.

** Such treatment provides comfort levels & reduces cooling loads inside a building while thermal insulation reduces conductivity for the roof section.

** It is also pointed out that a dark-coloured roof absorbs more heat & sunlight that invariably ends up increasing the cooling demand of the building The TERI and Terra Viridis report states that “by applying roof insulation in a 24-hour fully air-conditioned residential building, an annual energy savings of 14 per cent is achieved”.

This clearly underscores the way such coatings can help keep the interiors cool while reducing dependence on coolers and conditioners.

** During the day time, roof insulation offers protection for a structure against inflow of heat.

** Construction practices in India mainly involve use of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) as roofing element which has high thermal conductivity.

** Some of the methods that the guidelines discuss to tackle this include over-deck insulation i.e., providing a thermal barrier over the RCC to check the sun heat from reaching the RCC slab.

** Other conventional practices being use of foam concrete and mud phuska or / higher albedo (a measure of a material’s ability to reflect sunlight) paints & coats which can also significantly reduce the heat island effect.

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