It's fair to say that winters in the UK are getting a lot colder - and when the heating goes on full whack, you probably find yourself wondering: how energy efficient are bricks?
This is what we know - and, of course, our team is always standing by to help you source the most energy efficient options on the market too.
Contact the teamWhy efficiency matters
Having an energy-efficient house is better for the environment and better for your bank account.
Depending on your supplier, using more energy to regulate the temperature in your living space can mean more fossil fuels are used. Either way it will increase your energy bill.
Whilst air conditioning is not that common in the UK, due to relatively short summers we make use of central heating during the winter.
In order to use this less and be more economical and environmentally friendly, we rely on insulation and double-glazed windows to save energy. But bricks are a big part of the equation too.
Brick buildings retain heat for longer than those built with other materials, such as wood, steel or glass
Are bricks energy efficient?
Bricks have a much higher energy efficiency than any other commonly used building material. This means that brick buildings retain heat for longer than those built with other materials, such as wood, steel or glass.
Indeed, research shows that energy consumption in houses that don't use brick increases significantly.
If it's cold outside and you put the heating on for an hour, the heat will stay around for much longer than if the building was built from something else.
If it's hot outside, the interior will stay cooler for longer and only a small proportion of the heat from outside will leak in. This is down to something called thermal mass.
What is thermal mass?
Thermal mass is simply the capacity of a material to absorb and retain heat energy when there is a temperature differential - for example, where hot meets cold.
The time it takes for heat to pass through a wall is called lag time. The higher the thermal mass, the longer the lag time.
For bricks, that lag time is lengthy. If you've got a normal cavity wall (two layers of brick or brick and blocks with a gap in the middle), it should take around 7-8 hours for heat to completely dissipate.
For thinner veneer walls the time is slightly less, and for non-brick walls the lag time is significantly reduced.
With heat energy leaking at a higher rate, more artificial energy such as central heating is required.
What about embodied energy?
The energy efficiency of bricks is also affected by what's known as embodied energy.
This is energy required to make the material in the first place, something that therefore contributes to the overall energy used to create a building.
And although bricks inevitably have some embodied energy from the manufacturing process, they are still more energy efficient when compared to other building materials.
For example, any building that requires paint or galvanising, uses a huge amount of energy during the manufacturing process. The fact that bricks also last for a very long time, is a big contributor to their efficiency.
All in all, the manufacturing of the brick only counts for about 10% of the lifetime energy consumption and greenhouse emissions of a house, with 90% coming from day-to-day use of the house.
Bricks keep you warm at night
So, you can rest easy knowing that bricks are better at retaining heat and are, therefore, the more economical and environmentally friendly building option.
Most new builds not only use brick but have insulation and double-glazed windows as standard, so there shouldn't be any need to worry about this too much.
But it's good to know why they are energy efficient and that if you put your heating on at the right time, the house should stay warm for a while.
We're here for you
Interested in using bricks for your next project? We have a range of services tailored to help you achieve successful brickwork - and we're always happy to help you source the most energy efficient options on the market.
Our expert Brick Advisors are standing by to help you match, customise and calculate the exact amount of bricks you need, then source them and find the best price - we'll even arrange delivery too.
Simply let us know what you need, and our experts will do the rest!
