Thermal Transmittance U vs Th. Resistance R

To achieve thermal comfort and energy efficiency in buildings, a primary role is played by the thermal envelope: this is required to thermally decouple the indoor environment from the ever-changing external conditions, both in summer and in winter. The structures…

Insulation materials: discovering the lambda value

The lambda value of a material indicates its ability to transfer heat: this property is therefore very important in the design of highly performing buildings and passive houses. The information commonly available is unfortunately quite confusing: with this article, we'll…

Mold and condensation: if the solution is worse than the problem

We cover here two real examples of mold and condensation problems, with thermal insulation installed on the inside of existing masonry walls. In both cases, the solutions were chosen on an empirical basis, and turned out to be worse than…

What’s an insulation material?

With more and more people talking about building energy efficiency and passive houses, it has become more and more common to hear about insulation. In this article, we explain what an insulation material is, to try and shed some light……

Thermal bridges: the temperature factor fRsi

We continue our series of articles on the topic of thermal bridges: this time, we illustrate the fRsi value, which describes the thermal ”strenght” of a node under the point of view of internal surface temperatures. As we have explained…

Thermal bridges: the PSI value

For new builds as well as energy retrofits, worldwide the construction industry is shifting more and more towards zero energy buildings and Passive Houses. With the thermal envelope becoming more and more advanced, the correct evaluation of thermal bridges becomes…

Energy Efficiency: the importance of site supervision

On our Facebook page, we are regularly publishing images from our Cavriago construction site, where we are building two Passive Houses. With this article, we would like to show just two examples of the many construction errors can occur during…