Teleworking: how to ensure summer comfort in your home?

With the Olympic competitions taking place this summer, a large majority of Ile-de-France residents will have to telework, a situation which reinforces housing inequalities during periods of extreme heat. With a third of the inhabitants of Paris and the inner suburbs housed in energy sieves*, they are all the more likely to suffer from the health consequences of heat waves.

Insulation allows you to better regulate the interior temperature of your home, provide protection against outside heat and reduce your energy bill.

Faced with summer heat waves, ROCKWOOL, world leader in rock wool insulation solutions, shares its 7 tips for maintaining a cool temperature at home, guaranteeing the well-being of occupants and contributing to the energy efficiency of buildings.

Insulate the roof and attic as a priority. Considering the surface area and exposure, this is where most of the heat penetrates in summer. The top floors and attic apartments are more likely to be impacted during high heat. Good roof insulation, particularly with a dense material such as rock wool, can make a temperature difference of several degrees inside the home.
Insulate the entire building envelope: walls, windows, low floors. Complete insulation not only ensures optimal thermal comfort in summer and winter and energy savings, but also enhanced fire safety.
Choose high-performance insulation: To keep a house cool, you must opt for insulation with good thermal phase shift. The phase shift represents the time, in hours, that it takes for the heat peak to enter the home. The longer this time, the more efficient the insulation. Therefore, several criteria are taken into account to increase this number of hours:
- Specific heat capacity (or specific heat)
- The density
- Lower thermal conductivity
- Insulation thickness

For Vincent MARCOLLA, product manager at ROCKWOOL France: “Rock wool meets all these criteria and by offering more than 10 hours of phase shift, it acts as a barrier to heat. »

In addition to good insulation, choose materials with high thermal inertia in construction or renovation to stabilize interior temperatures.
Install effective solar protection on windows: exterior blinds, shutters, sunshades. This can reduce the indoor temperature by 1-3,5°C.
Adopt simple eco-gestures such as over-ventilating at night by opening the windows at night to let in fresh air. This can lower the temperature by 1 to 4,5°C. Close the shutters as soon as the sun hits, use damp curtains in front of the windows, limit the use of heat-producing appliances.
Insulate before equipping: it is essential to have a well-insulated home before installing an air conditioning system, otherwise you risk investing in oversized equipment which will consume more.

To carry out your insulation projects, benefit from aid for energy renovation: MaPrimeRénov' intended for owners wishing to undertake energy renovation work in their home, is accessible to all main residences built for at least 15 years. Good news ! MaPrimeRénov' now supports “monogestes”, that is to say, simple insulation work and the aid ceiling for households with intermediate and higher incomes has just been raised! It is sometimes difficult to know what assistance you are eligible for.

For Vincent MARCOLLA: “Faced with the increase in the number of episodes of high heat and their intensity, it is essential to recall the importance of intensifying the energy transition of the French real estate stock. Appropriate insulation improves the quality of life, and gives residents a lever of resilience in the face of climatic challenges. With the State's advantageous measures, now is the time to undertake renovation work! »

* Ministry of ecological transition 2022