The changing structure of the thermal insulation material market in Russia - December 2010

Building insulation refers broadly to any object used in a building as an insulator for any purpose. Most insulation in buildings is for thermal purposes, but the term also applies to acoustic insulation, fire insulation, impact insulation (e.g. for vibrations caused by industrial applications), and technical insulation. An insulation material will quite often be chosen for its ability to carry out several of these functions at the same time – the thermal insulator also usually has excellent acoustic insulation properties. In our article we will focus, however, on the main category of insulation materials: those developed to increase the thermal efficiency of buildings.

The term thermal insulation can refer to materials used to reduce heat transfer or the methods and processes utilised to reduce it. Thermal insulation is a method of preventing heat from escaping from a container or from entering the container. In other words, thermal insulation can keep a closed area such as a building warm, or it can keep the inside of a container cold. Heat is transferred from one material to another by conduction, convection or radiation. Insulators are used to minimise the transfer of heat energy. The flow of heat can be reduced by addressing one or more of these mechanisms and is dependent on the physical properties of the material employed to do this.

In Russia the issue of appropriate thermal insulation has been disregarded for many years. Because of the cheap prices of natural gas and oil, there has been nothing to force construction developers or administrators of residential or industrial buildings to reduce their spending on heating. This has led to a situation in which many poorly insulated buildings use energy extremely inefficiently. The Russian Centre for Energy Efficiency (CENEF) suggests that that improperly insulated overheated and under-heated buildings consume up to 50% more heat and hot water than necessary.