Energyflo Construction Technologies Ltd is pleased to announce that Energyflo Dynamic Insulation (DI) has been approved by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) as a technology that can be assessed via Appendix Q in the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP).
DI describes a novel, energy efficient method of supplying fresh ventilation air to the interior of a house, or building through an air-permeable, dynamically insulated envelope or façade. This offers significant benefits. Under such conditions, fabric thermal loss is recovered and returned to the building in the form of pre-tempered fresh ventilation air as a function of air flow rate - the dynamic effect – thus delivering significant reductions in fabric thermal transmission loss.
The performance of Energyflo DI products has been tested and validated by BRE, who commissioned the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) to develop a new, modified hot box test method for Energyflo DI products and to complete a comprehensive series to tests using the method to determine precisely how much of the fabric heat loss is recovered as a function of air flow rate. This work has enabled the development of a calibrated theoretical model that can be used to accurately predict DI performance across the range of flow rates for all Energyflo DI products.
In Appendix Q, the reductions in thermal transmission are expressed as a Dynamic R-value that is calculated as a function of the air flow rate per unit area of dynamic insulation using the BRE / NPL calibrated model. This dynamic R-value can be used by the SAP Assessor to calculate the U-value of any wall, roof or floor construction in accordance with BS443. Depending on which Energyflo product is used and the specific house / building configuration, effective dynamic U-values of between 0.05 to 0.15 W/m2K are typically achievable.