You will often find the loft, upper storey, garret or the terrace of your house very hot during the summer. This is caused by the heat from the sun, also known as radiant heat.

Radiant heat

Radiant heat is transmitted from a heat source through space directly. It is felt from distant objects like the sun or a fire. Radiant heat does not require a medium to travel through. It is also termed as infra-red heat or energy. As radiant heat does not needs any medium to travel, it can also penetrate through any object transparent or opaque. So there is hardly any object that can stop the radiant heat other than radiant barriers.

Beating the radiant heat by radiant barriers

Radiant barriers are equipments those are installed in buildings to reduce summer heat gain as well we winter heat loss. A radiant barrier as the name suggests works in the typical manner. It reflects radiant heat back towards its source. It least reflects as much as ninety percent. Radiant barriers are designed to block the radiated heat in homes by reflecting the radiant heat rather than just absorbing it. When a radiant barrier is stapled on the garret, much of the heat radiated from the hot roof is reflected back toward the source. This keeps the top surface of the insulation cooler. Thus it reduces the amount of heat that moves through the insulation into the rooms below the ceiling. Radiant barriers can lower a bill by 5 to 10 percent in comparison to other cooling appliances.
A traditional form of insulation absorbs radiant heat energy where as radiant barriers reflect it. Reflective barriers consist of a thin sheet or coating of a highly reflective material. This sheet is made up of aluminum. It is applied to one or both sides of a number of substrate materials. In addition to this they also provide substantial energy savings in cold climates. Radiant barriers can reduce indoor heat losses through the ceiling in the winter. The total benefit of radiant barriers for reducing winter heat loss is still under study.

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