AMMAN - Civil engineers on Sunday called for enforcing thermal insulation as part of the building code to help conserve badly needed energy.
"Thermal insulation is vital and must become an obligatory stipulation of the building code due to the high cost of energy," Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) President Abdullah Obeidat said, following a workshop on thermal insulation organised at the association headquarters.
Thermal insulation requires construction units to be established in a way that minimises energy loss, thus helping the country limit energy consumption.
"Enforcing thermal insulation in the building code will definitely reduce the Kingdom's expenditure on fuel, particularly if it is implemented on a large scale," Obeidat told The Jordan Times yesterday.
Experts said few buildings in the Kingdom have thermal insulation due to lack of public awareness on the importance of insulation and its contribution to saving maintenance costs, as well as reducing energy consumption.
But some in the sector cast doubt on the ability of the JEA to make thermal insulation compulsory, due to the building culture deeply entrenched in society.
Hassan Wahbeh, a civil engineer, said applying thermal insulation in Jordan is vital due to the Kingdom's need to save energy, but the technology is not being applied properly.
"Only certain parts of a building, such as walls and windows, are usually insulated, while others, such as the roof, or doors are left without insulation. This means there will be a loss of thermal energy and this defies the purpose of saving energy," he told The Jordan Times yesterday.
He also said applying total insulation is difficult because Jordanians prefer to clad their houses in limestone, a material difficult to use with thermal insulation.
"Appling thermal insulation with limestone requires a certain mechanism which few construction companies can or are willing to use. People will have to use special plastering, similar to the system used in Europe," he noted.
A recent study conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org and released late last year, indicated that an overwhelming majority of Jordanians support greater reliance on wind and solar energy.
The study showed that around 69 per cent of Jordanians support making buildings more energy efficient, to "save money in the long run", something long advocated by energy experts.
Houses built under the Decent Housing for Decent Living initiative will be constructed following green building and thermal insulation codes, officials said,.
Experts at the workshop acknowledged that the use of renewable energy would be less damaging to the environment, especially as energy demand is expected to grow by 50 per cent over the next 20 years.
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
© Jordan Times 2010
