Heat transfer occurs through three mechanisms: thermal convection, thermal conduction, and thermal radiation.
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Thermal mass is a substance’s ability to hold heat energy. It is related to density. A substance with high thermal mass stores a greater quantity of heat energy than one with low thermal mass, even if both are heated to the same temperature.
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Insulating concrete forms (ICFs) offered an energy-efficient mode of construction long before sustainability was widely pursued, or even understood, in the overall building industry. In the intervening years, competing building methods have seen improvements in thermal energy efficiency, but the properties of ICF have remained virtually constant, until recently.
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Cold-formed steel framing (CFSF)—also known as ‘light-gauge’—began as a kind of alternative lumber, but after decades of positive performance it has finally come into its own. Much like wood worked by carpenters, steel studs and track can be cut and combined to create more complex shapes.
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The sheen of the floor in an Edmonton Value Village store may look like polished concrete, but it is, in fact, neither polished nor concrete. The surface material is actually a bonded topping—a relatively soft cementitious material used as underlayment for carpet or vinyl tile, which would not normally be considered ‘shinable.’ Instead of the labour-intensive finish made by polishing it with fine diamond abrasives, it was honed with only medium-grit abrasives, hardened with an advanced-chemistry densifier, protected with a breathable sealer, and buffed to a near-polished shine—a much more affordable treatment.
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