In Alicante the energy problem is not winter, it is summer. A poorly resolved property soaks up heat all day and releases it at night, and the air conditioning spends August fighting against the façade and the windows. Improving efficiency here means, above all, stopping the heat getting in: shade, insulation and glazing.
At Grupo Construcciones Alicante we carry out energy efficiency work on homes and buildings across Alicante and the province. We don’t sell a particular product: we analyse where the energy is being lost in your case and prioritise the measures by what will actually be noticed in comfort and in bills, which is rarely the same as what gets advertised.
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The most immediate effect is comfort. A property with a well-resolved building envelope holds its temperature for far longer with nothing switched on, and the familiar complaints disappear: the room under the roof that is unusable in August, the wall that is hot to the touch in the afternoon, the cold draught by the window in January.
Then come the savings, which depend heavily on the starting point: in a property from the seventies with no insulation, the improvement is dramatic; in one built to recent standards, far smaller. And there is a third effect that carries more weight every year: the energy rating on the certificate, which is compulsory to sell or let, and which is starting to influence the price the market will accept.
Improving efficiency calls for diagnosis before catalogues. This is our process:
We analyse the whole property: orientation, exposed façade area, roof type, existing windows, heating and cooling equipment and how the home is used. Without that diagnosis, any proposal is just a product list.
A fixed quote ordered by priority, showing what each measure contributes, so you can decide how far to go now and what to leave for later.
We plan the works in the right order: the envelope first and the equipment afterwards, because sizing the air conditioning before insulating leads to buying larger units than necessary.
We pay particular attention to the difficult details: junctions between façade and windows, blind boxes, floor edges and balcony slabs, which is where the insulation’s savings leak away.
We check the continuity of the insulation and the airtightness of the installed windows, and commission the equipment verifying how it actually performs.
We hand over the documentation for materials and equipment and advise you on updating the energy certificate, which is where the improvement is recorded.
The envelope first. Insulating walls and roof gives the greatest return, because it works twenty-four hours a day consuming nothing. External wall insulation is the most effective system because it removes thermal bridges and takes up no internal space, although in a block of flats it requires the owners’ agreement. Where that isn’t viable, internal lining does the job at the cost of a few centimetres.
The roof, the forgotten one. In top-floor properties, an enormous share of the summer heat load comes through the flat roof. Insulating it, with a reflective finish or as an inverted roof, transforms those homes and is usually the best value measure of all.
Openings and shade. Thermally broken windows with glazing suited to each orientation: solar control to the south and west, low-emissivity where retaining heat matters. And external shading, far more effective than any internal blind, because it stops the radiation before it passes through the glass.
Equipment. With the envelope sorted, an air source heat pump performs very well in this climate for heating, cooling and hot water, and photovoltaic self-consumption is a particularly good fit here: peak cooling demand coincides with peak solar production.
The order matters more than the brand. Installing state-of-the-art equipment in an uninsulated property is like fitting a big engine to a car with the windows down: it works, but you pay for it every month. That is why we always propose the envelope first and the equipment afterwards, sized for the improved property, which also makes the installation cheaper.
Be wary of firm promises of savings. Consumption depends on how many people live there, what temperature they keep the house at and how many hours it is occupied; two identical properties can use twice as much energy as each other. What can be stated with confidence is which measures reduce energy demand, and by how much.
On grants: there are energy refurbishment schemes with significant subsidy rates, normally conditional on demonstrating a reduction in demand or a jump in certificate rating, and with documentation requirements before and after. They change frequently, so we check what is open at the time and what paperwork is needed from the outset, since many require an energy certificate issued before work begins.
Energy efficiency work we carry out regularly in Alicante:
With whatever lets most heat in, in your particular case. In a top-floor property, the roof; in one with large west-facing glazing, the shading and the glass; in a mid-floor flat with an uninsulated south façade, the wall. A single visit identifies the weak point, and that is what gives the most comfort per euro. Light bulbs and small habits help, but they don’t fix a poor building envelope.
Usually yes, for both residents’ associations and individual owners, tied to improving the energy rating or reducing demand. Conditions and deadlines vary with each scheme, and almost all require technical documentation before work starts: begin without it and you lose the entitlement. We tell you what is currently open and what you need to prepare before a single brick is moved.
It depends on the starting point and how you use the property, and anyone giving you an exact figure without having seen the house is improvising. What can be quantified is the reduction in heating and cooling demand from each measure, which then translates into bills according to how you live. In older uninsulated properties the improvement is very large; in recent construction, more modest.
Yes, this climate is one of the best for it: without hard frosts, the heat pump works within its efficient range almost all year, and a single unit covers heating, cooling and domestic hot water. It performs especially well with low-temperature emitters such as underfloor heating or fan coils. Do bear in mind it should be installed after insulating, so the unit isn’t oversized and you don’t pay more than necessary.
They fit this area very well, both for hours of sunshine and because cooling demand coincides with production hours. The key is sizing the system to your actual consumption rather than to the available roof: oversizing to export to the grid returns far less than matching the system to self-consumption. In properties with a pool or with people working from home, direct use is high and the payback shortens.
Yes, and it is often one of the aims of the works, because it is what any buyer or tenant will see. Rating improvements come mainly from reducing demand: wall and roof insulation, windows and solar shading. Changing only the equipment improves the rating, but less than people expect. After the works, a certifying engineer issues the new certificate reflecting the measures carried out.