Energy efficiency is something that all of us should strive for. Not only does energy efficiency have a positive ecological impact, but it also saves you money on energy bills.
One of the most impactful ways to enhance your energy efficiency is by applying thermal barrier coatings. In this article, we’ll share three top ways thermal barrier coatings improve energy efficiency and cover a few other important benefits as well.
Improve Your Building Envelope
Applying a thermal barrier coating to the outside of a building will dramatically improve the building envelope. Building envelope is a term that describes the seal that your building creates between the outside environment and its indoor spaces.
If your building has a poor building envelope, it will allow outside air to enter through unwanted gaps and openings. When outside air is free to enter a building, it affects the internal environment and makes it far more difficult for your HVAC units to maintain a stable internal environment. As that difficulty increases, your HVAC units become less energy efficient.
There are several ways to improve building envelope, one of which is applying a thermal barrier coating. Thermal barrier coatings provide a protective layer that helps to seal your building and reduce thermal energy transfer. This protection gives the building better insulation, allowing your HVAC units to operate more effectively and efficiently.
Protect Your Ductwork
The ductwork in your building is responsible for conveying air to help heat and cool your interior spaces. However, if your ductwork has leaks, it does not perform as effectively. In fact, leaking ducts can cause your HVAC system to work harder than necessary, the same way that a lack of insulation does.
To resolve this issue, you can apply a thermal barrier coating to your ducts. Using a thermal barrier coating creates a complete seal for your ducts, which prevents leaks and allows your HVAC units to heat and cool your building more efficiently.
Additionally, thermal barrier coatings also protect your duct system’s materials. This protection reduces corrosion, allows your ducts to last longer, and reduces the need for repairs and replacements.
Enhance Mechanical Operations
If you operate any type of manufacturing facility, it’s likely that your operation depends on many forms of electronics and machinery. What you might not know is that thermal barrier coatings can help these components operate more efficiently.
When mechanical pieces contact each other, they create friction, which not only reduces the speed at which they operate but also causes unnecessary wear and tear. If you do not provide any protection from this friction, you’ll need to continually replace parts on a relatively frequent basis.
Fortunately, thermal barrier coatings can ease the operation of manufacturing components by protecting them from friction. This protection leads to easier operation and less overall energy use. Thermal barrier coatings will also make your mechanical components last longer than they normally would.
Other Benefits of Thermal Barrier Coatings
So far, we have touched on three of the most important ways that thermal barrier coatings lead to greater energy efficiency. However, improved energy efficiency is not the only benefit that thermal barrier coatings can provide. The list below shares a few other vital advantages of these coatings:
- Corrosion prevention: Many structures and machinery consist of metal components. Unfortunately, metal is susceptible to corrosion. When corrosion occurs, your metal will break down and eventually become useless. Thermal barrier coatings protect metals from corrosion so they can last longer.
- Reduced condensation: One of the less expected benefits of thermal barrier coatings is that they help to discourage condensation on surfaces. While you might not expect condensation to be a problem, it can lead to issues like mold and overall structural decay. Thermal barrier coatings make it much more difficult for condensation to accumulate and lead to a detrimental outcome.
- Increased longevity: No matter where you apply your thermal barrier coating, the item to which you apply it will have dramatically improved longevity. Thermal barrier coatings have incredible protective capabilities that shield materials from wear and tear. By reducing wear and tear, you’ll have fewer repairs and replacements to worry about.
Industries that Benefit from Thermal Barrier Coatings
Thermal barrier coatings are not only beneficial in multiple ways, but they are also applicable to many settings and industries. Before we conclude this article, we wanted to share a few of the many industries that can put thermal barrier coatings to practical use:
- Industrial manufacturing
- Transportation
- Storage
- Shipping
- Marine applications
In addition to those industrial applications, thermal barrier coatings have plenty of other uses. For instance, thermal barrier coatings can improve the building envelope of nearly any residential or commercial building. As such, nearly everyone can benefit from the use of a thermal barrier coating.
Want to Improve Your Energy Efficiency?
If you’re convinced that thermal barrier coating is right for you, the next step is to find the best product. As you might guess, some thermal barrier coatings are better capable of providing the benefits we described than others.
If you want the best thermal barrier coating you can find, reach out to ThermaCote. We provide high-performance thermal barrier coatings that allow for better energy efficiency and much more. Contact us today to learn more.