Insulating mineral wool increase sales and break the trend of the sector according to data of AFELMA (Association of Spanish manufacturers of mineral wool insulation) in 2010 turnover of insulating mineral wool (rock wool and glass wool) stood at 143 million euros, which represents an increase of 1.15% over the previous year. AFELMA estimated the volume sold of mineral wool insulation is approaching the 2.11 million cubic meters. The bases of this slight improvement found in thermal insulation, improving the sound quality and the need for protection against fire, highly valued, especially by the industry and services. In short, the versatility of the insulating mineral wool (the fulfillment of all the construction requirements with the same insulating product) is a highly valued quality, as in the rest of Europe, because that increases the profitability and satisfaction of professionals and users. The slight increase in turnover can mean, for the first time since 2007 (last year in the) that recorded growths in the residential construction sector and the market of insulating) a change of trend that should be confirmed in the coming years. In any case, the versatility of mineral wool plays a decisive role in the increase of turnover of the same, especially if we consider that in 2010 the number of completed housing experienced a fall close to 35% and the reform of buildings decreased by 14% and that the market of insulating materials as a whole fell nearly 10 %, according to various sources. AFELMA forecasts for 2011 point to a market in which new residential construction will continue in descent, conditioning, therefore recovery; in fact the housing starts in 2010 fell around 20 percent on the previous year. The revision of the DB HE1 (thermal section of the technical building code) which must be concluded this year, should be used to increase energy savings in the buildings that are constructed and is rehabilitated.

For this purpose, it is necessary to incorporate standards that we approximate proportionally to the countries of our environment (a properly insulated home consumes 50% less), which have much lower than Spain percentages of energy dependence. This is more necessary even in a few moments in which can be seen clearly that the most optimistic calculations about the oil price on which was based the previous HE1 DB (64$) have been clearly outdated. AFELMA studies for the revision of the DB HE1 placed on price of a barrel of oil around $105. The other key to the improvement of the sector is the design of a powerful plan of rehabilitation of buildings that includes low interest loans to subsidize the improvement of energy efficiency. For more information: Monica Herranz.