In use energy savings are the most important issue because fossil fuel energy usage is leading to global warming and rising sea levels, raising the very real possibility of catastrophic climate change which might destroy life as we know it.

The British Government has prioritised increased insulation and higher air tightness as keys to reducing energy use in buildings. This is consistent with its policy to promote sustainable construction principles.

Rigid urethane insulated roof and wall systems optimise thermal efficiency and contribute to air-tightness criteria, thereby preventing unnecessary heat transfer. This provides substantial CO2 emission savings and contributes to the Government’s goals of minimising global warming and consequential climate change.

An additional value of insulated roof and wall systems is that they maintain their exceptional thermal performance throughout their lifetime, which is a key requirement for any sustainable solution.

Kingspan’s insulated roof and wall systems can reduce energy use by up to 60%. This enables M&E heating and cooling space systems to be designed to optimise energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.

Sustainable Manufacture and Site Installation

Off-site pre-fabrication provides factory quality systems achieving higher quality, faster and safer site installation.

Additionally these solutions provide lower site costs, reduced construction programme times and greater certainty in project delivery.

Pre-engineered solutions are delivered to the construction site with the correct dimensions and therefore there is generally no site wastage.

In Use Sustainability

Buildings are Responsible for 50% of EU Energy Use (Including Industrial Buildings)

Embodied Energy

There is a common misconception that the most important factor in a material specification is the embodied energy of the material.

For base construction materials, the replacement of one material with an equivalent with lower embodied energy will of course reduce the overall energy impact. However, achieving low energy demand in-use is the most important factor and must be optimised first.

Embodied energy can be particularly misleading for energy efficiency materials and systems - where the embodied energy will typically only be in the order of 1% - 3% of the energy saved over the building’s lifetime.

This very clearly indicates: thermal (U-value) and low air leakage are first, and longevity of performance over life is second, these are the key environmental issues for choosing insulation materials.