Energy Simulator App KoolCheck from Kingspan Insulation

Kingspan Insulation launches app for energy simulations

Leading insulation innovator, Kingspan Insulation, has launched an app for iPads and iPhones to simulate energy savings its products can deliver.

Called KoolCheck, the app allows users to select their city, building type and insulation products to see how energy footprints, carbon emissions and operational costs can be reduced.

Kingspan Insulation Marketing Manager, Mr. Karim Muri, says the app illustrates the impact that its high performance insulation products can have on the built environment.

"Most people understand broadly that insulation products help reduce energy use, but our KoolCheck app puts that broad understanding into some tangible numbers," he says.

Kingspan Insulation conducted a comprehensive energy modelling study through a global engineering consulting firm, revealing significant savings in the areas of energy costs, CO2 emissions, peak cooling and heating reductions, and capital cost savings when using its unique insulation solutions to upgrade an existing building.

"The vast majority of Australian building stock consists of existing buildings, with new construction only making up around 2%," says Mr. Muri.

"And it's most of this existing building stock that are the worst offenders when it comes to energy inefficiency due in large part to poor thermal performance of the building fabric."

With energy use in buildings accounting for up to 30% of our carbon emissions, simple improvements in insulation levels can make a big difference, according to Mr. Muri.

Sample screens of the KoolCheck app showing savings in energy costs and reductions in peak cooling and heating.

"The KoolCheck app shows that upgrading an office building in Canberra, for example, with Kingspan insulation can reduce its carbon emissions by over 37 tonnes annually, meaning thousands in operational cost savings."

According to Mr. Muri, these energy savings can contribute to a better National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) energy star rating, making a commercial building more attractive to potential tenants and buyers as well as returning more for building owners.

"The most recent IPD Green Property Investment Index has again confirmed that higher rated buildings outperform others in returns, and with the government rolling out its CBD [Commercial Building Disclosure] program, any building owner should consider an improvement in their NABERS rating well worthwhile." IPD Managing Director, Mr. Anthony De Francesco, has said of the latest report: "Results show that recently refurbished office buildings with a high NABERS Energy rating outperform."

The CBD program requires the NABERS energy star rating of an office building to be disclosed when being leased or sold (www.cbd.gov.au).

The KoolCheck app is available for free on the iTunes app store.