Spain's "Le Monde" website recently reported that the Spanish construction industry is in urgent need of updating itself to improve efficiency, and the outbreak of the energy crisis caused by soaring electricity prices and rising fuel prices has exacerbated this demand. This status quo has affected homes and private spaces, as well as administrative buildings, which rarely achieve the best ratings.
In fact, Spain will invest 435 million euros to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings, only 10% of these buildings have an A or B rating, of which the best A is only 1.9% of the total.
The problem is that, according to experts, almost none of the buildings built before 2010 meet the standards. In other words, of the nearly 27 million buildings in Spain, only those built in the past 12 years are efficient. Many of those inefficient buildings don't even get a B or C, only an E or F.
Furthermore, a single reform may not do the job of raising the rating, although it does increase efficiency to some extent. Also, in some cases, such as replacing windows, it can indeed have the added benefit of isolating outside noise, but it can also result in engineering assistance not being available if there is no significant increase in efficiency - that is, upgrading from a lower grade to higher tiers - they may be excluded from subsidies.
In any case, reforms can be of various types, but they all fall into 3 basic areas: protecting the façade, improving the internal consumption of the building and promoting the modernization of its elements.
The first of these pillars usually requires more reforms, the purpose of which is to block the transfer of energy to and from the outside, which means that heat escapes in winter but enters the building in summer. Doors, windows, roofs and façades themselves, as well as the interior of the building, are all elements that will receive reform.
In the second case, many devices that help save energy or consume green resources have gradually entered the building. Solar or photovoltaic panels (some used to heat domestic water, others to generate energy) are the most common, not to mention air heating and geothermal, which operate on the difference in temperature inside and outside the building and the heat from the ground itself, respectively.
Finally, making changes to specific elements, such as high-efficiency faucets, as the name suggests, can reduce water waste and reduce the amount of energy used to heat water. Light bulbs can also represent an important change, although their purpose must be taken into account.
In addition, reforms in heating will also enter the building. Traditional radiators concentrate heat at one point, so heating the entire house is more complicated than heating the floor, which distributes the heat better. Also, in smaller dwellings, a heat pump may be more efficient, heating the room faster, although it consumes more.
