Building Fabric

General building fabric improvements have greatly reduced heat losses and gains in buildings, but older buildings have considerable opportunities for improvements. A well-insulated and sealed building will not only lose less heat in cold weather but will also gain less heat in hot weather and reduce cooling costs.The issues for industrial buildings are similar to those for domestic buildings, and the things that can be done in your own home to reduce energy use can be replicated in industrial buildings. It is simply that the costs and benefits are larger.

Action:

Check that insulation thickness meets best practice.
Draft-proof doors and windows. It is cheap but effective. Even a small gap will cause drafts and heat losses. (You would not accept it at home, so why accept it at work?)
Permanently seal unused doors and windows.
Keep windows and doors closed to reduce drafts—adjust the controls instead.
Do not heat areas when you have windows or outside doors open.
Fit automatic closers on all doors and do not block them open.
For vehicle doors, note that automatic fast-acting roller shutters are more effective than plastic strip doors.
Interlock temperature controls with large vehicle doors so that “door open” = “heating/cooling off.”

Note: Dr. Robin Kent is the author of Energy Management in Plastics Processing, published by Plastics Information Direct, and managing director of Tangram Technology Ltd., consulting engineers specializing in energy management in plastics processing. rkent@tangram.co.uk.