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Building Envelope  »  Thermal bridging

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Savings

Energy savings due to effective thermal bridging largely depend upon the area of installation such as balcony, roof canopy, shading devices etc. and their contact area with the insulated area. A thermally broken balcony could result in space conditioning energy savings from 4% up to 8% in cold climate. However, the payback period for using special details for thermal bridging (at present) range from 24 years to 52 years depending on the wall insulation. A decrease in the cost of thermal breaks will encourage their usage and result in lesser payback periods (RDH Building Engineering Ltd, 2013).

Erhorn-Kluttig & Erhorn (2009) conducted a study in few European countries on the transmission losses due to thermal bridge effects influence on the total final or primary energy consumption of residential buildings. Although the exact extent of energy savings depends on the type of joinery detail, climate, building geometry etc., they conclude that reduced thermal bridges have significant effect on the heating energy in buildings (as high as 30% or 11 kWh/m²a) and on the primary consumption (in the range of 13 kWh/m²a - 18 kWh/m²a). They observer that better building joints not only improve the thermal bridging but also improve the air tightness of the buildings.