Home Insulation

by Susan Evans

In this column, Shanghai’s environmental experts from GoodtoChina share ideas on easy, at-home green initiatives. Read on to find out how you can increase your home comforts and reduce heating and cooling expenses with insulation.

Many elements of a well- designed building can lead not just to healthier living, but also energy conservation, cost reduction and heating/cooling efficiency. Buildings are directly dependent on the quality of insulation in the walls, ceilings, roof, floor and windows. If you want to improve your quality of home living, then the most important step is to ensure that your apartment has insulation. This will diminish the huge swings in inside temperature often experienced in non-insulated housing, which lead to higher electricity bills.

Housing south of the Yangtze River traditionally has poor insulation. Sitting just south of the river, Shanghai's winter is exceptionally insufferable due to the fact that temperatures in this region are temperate enough to not require fluffy pink cotton-candy-like inserts in between building materials. The result? As anyone who has spent a winter in Shanghai can attest, the cold spells are accompanied by a dampness that creeps in to your bones and remains firmly entrenched until spring thaw. While coming home to a well-heated home would help cold sufferers survive the miserable season, that possibility is slim to none in Shanghai. The best most of us can do is don a puffy down coat and carry around a thermos of hot water for three months straight, but hold on Shanghai. There’s hope. Here’s some DIY tips to help you prepare for the oncoming cold snap.

Wall and roof insulation

When you move apartments, check first to see if the apartment is insulated. If not insulate your walls from the inside before moving in. Look out for the green star or LEED building certification, the two most commonly used energy-focused building certifications used in China.

Windows

To minimise the work and utilise the windows that you already have in the window spaces, add to the current single-pane windows by placing a second frame on the inside of the window space to create your own double pane windows.

Susan Evans is the co-founder of GoodtoChina, a platform that aims to make sustainable living accessible, beneficial and desirable to everyday urban residents in China as well as accelerate the move towards a lower carbon society and sustainable living. Visit http://goodtochina.com to discover how you can make an impact.