This is one important way to improve the energy efficiency of an existing building
The photos below show the Eco Vida Homes VH team applying external insulation to a renovation project in Guadalmina Marbella (SATE: Sistema de Aislamiento Térmico por Exterior). In a conventional building you can typically lose 30% of your heating and cooling energy because of poorly insulated walls. The cost isn’t just financial. Better insulation makesContinue reading
Keeping Up to Date with Insulation Technology in Spain
A new generation of insulation materials has been developed and they are thinner and better.
As you know insulation along with solar orientation, window placement, shading and window technology, are key factors in determining the comfort and energy efficiency of your home.
How do the new generation of insulation materials work?
Continue readingIt’s hot hot hot! Cool your building with no electricity, no moving parts and no noise
Conventional air conditioning burns a hole in your wallet and if the electricity is generated from fossil fuels it contributes to climate change. So cool your building with no electricity, no moving parts and no noise. Solar Cooling Spain Solar Cooling with Salts It’s a brilliantly conceived system. It just uses the energy from theContinue reading
Air Source Heat Pump: Is this Just Hot Air? How Does it Work?
Intuitively we can understand how a log fire works, electric radiator or an oil fired boiler but heat from the air seems counter intuitive so how does it actually work and is it reliable? Well you already own a heat pump. Your fridge is a heat pump. Heat is extracted from the fridge and expelledContinue reading
How Much Money Can You Save With an Energy Efficient Home in Spain?
If you live in a typical energy inefficient home in Spain constructed say 5 years ago to the minimum standards required by the building regulations then it’s possible that 70% or more of your energy consumption is on space heating (and maybe cooling) and another 20% is on hot water. And the rest could goContinue reading
Underfloor Heating in Spain
There is something magical about that warm glow underfoot. What are the advantages of under floor heat delivery over conventional radiators? Is it suitable to the climate in Spain? Firstly the only under floor heating systems that are of interest to us are those that pass water through coiled pipes. As far as we areContinue reading
Healthy Heating Systems in Spain
Hundreds of Thousands of Years of Evolution If we think of our biological heritage we evolved with the sun and fire. Both deliver light and heat in the form of infra –red radiation. In terms of our evolutionary make up it is probably fair to say we react well to a source of radiating heat,Continue reading
Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR) In Spain
An intelligent building isn’t one with a computer: it’s a building so designed that the computer has little to do. Passive Ventilation All good design should allow air to pass through a building. This is especially true in Spain where for most of the year you will want the windows open and to be livingContinue reading