My current apartment in Valenciennes – Northern France – is located in a recent building (2000). And far from me the idea of bragging, but until temperatures dropped below zero (Celcius) I almost didn’t not use my electric heaters.
My flat has double glazing windows and quite well insulated thick walls. The thermometer located in my flat indicates 19°C indoors while we are nearing zero outdoors, and this with little to no heating.
This is empirical proof that good thermal insulation – or weatherproofing – not only works but also saves a LOT of money as you just use little to no heating.
Knowing that weatherization :
- Helps people save money as the heat created by the heating systems indoors just stays indoors (and don’t go by the windows, or the roofs…) ;
- Creates a lot of jobs compared to investments in fossil fuels or even renewable energies as we have seen all too clearly in this post ;
- Could be applied to 20 million flats and houses in France alone as I have discovered in the writing of my Master’s thesis.
I am still wondering why it isn’t more widespread. Huge amounts of studies in the past decade – and surely before – have shown that weatherizing and insulating not only works but is also great value for money invested.
It is more than high time for governments all around the world to acknowledge this and help people insulate their dwellings. The environment, the society and the economy will benefit from this truly sustainable move !