Proposal for a Romanian thermal bridges catalogue

Abstract

Traditionally the evolution will demand better and better thermal insulation in buildings due to higher energy costs, the Kyoto protocol, thermal comfort and so on.
There are several methods to reach the goal of lower energy use in new buildings, some are:
• Increase insulation thickness. This method has been used historical;
• Insulate more effective through minimizing thermal bridge;
• Find new insulation materials with lower thermal conductivity;
• Change habitant’s behaviour.
Of course, many other factors contribute to the over all energy use in a building.
Thermal bridges are parts of the building envelope, which are not correctly insulated and are often responsible for severe condensation and mould problems as well as increased energy losses. The use of improved thermal bridge assessment is important both in the early design stage and for remedial action on retrofits. In order to bring complex thermal bridge calculations closer to practice, a software tools was developed in the framework of the SAVE EUROKOBRA project. Other aim of the project was, to build up a database of representative thermal bridge details in the participating countries. Romania hasn’t been partner to SAVE EUROKOBRA.
EUROKOBRA is a user-friendly two-dimensional heat transfer model for analyzing the impacts of thermal bridges in building components.
This paper describes EUROKOBRA thermal bridge program and proposes to develop a Romanian atlas with the aim of giving designers an easy to use, flexible assessment tool.