Thermal Bridging: Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Simply adding more insulation to a building's walls will not necessarily decrease the energy use of the building if most of the heat flow bypasses the insulation through poor details anyway. The authors maintain that If you want to achieve real energy savings AND minimize costs, you should consider the impact of thermal bridges from transitional components. Recent studies, such as ASHRAE 1365-RP Thermal Performance of Building Envelope Details for Mid- and High-rise Buildings, have shown that thermal bridges in transitional components can be significant contributors to heat flow through the envelope and cannot be ignored. The authors propose methods for accounting for the effect of thermal bridges.