Thermal Insulation Archives

The paradox Italian industries don’t want to face: heat on, waste heat, bill that keeps rising. Here’s how to avoid it

At home when you feel cold, the first thing you do is close the windows and only then you turn up the heat. No one would keep the radiators cranked up with the windows wide open, because the waste would be so obvious as to seem ridiculous.

Yet in industrial plants, something very similar happens, every day, all year round. Valves operating at 300 °C without any insulation, exposed flanges, scalding pipes left out in the open. Energy escapes unchecked and no one even notices anymore, because “it’s always been that way” and because those leaks make no noise and don’t halt production.

Besides, if your home were in energy class E or F you wouldn’t tear it down to rebuild it. You’d make targeted improvements—windows and doors, exterior insulation, solar panels—with a measurable return on your utility bill. The exact same principle applies to your heating system: there’s no need to start from scratch. First, you need to stop heating air that nobody uses.

The heat loss you can’t see costs you money every day, even when the system is running

An uninsulated valve operating at 300 °C continuously dissipates heat, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you multiply this by the dozens or hundreds of uninsulated points found in an average plant, the cost quickly and significantly increases.

The problem is that these leaks don’t trigger alarms and don’t halt production. They simply consume energy and generate costs that end up on the bill without anyone being able to pinpoint a specific cause. They remain there year after year , precisely because

They remain there, year after year, precisely because they don’t cause visible failures.

They don’t cause visible failure. The good news is that today there is a concrete way to track down these leaks and put a number on them. With a thermographic analysis and an inventory of critical points

The good news is that today there is a concrete way to track down these leaks and put a number on them. With a thermographic analysis and an inventory of critical points—pipes, tanks, valves, flanges, heat exchangers—you can finally quantify how much energy is being lost, how much it costs each year and where it makes the most sense to take action first.

Insulating exposed areas reduces energy consumption immediately, without disrupting the production process

Insulating hot or cold surfaces does not require structural changes to the plant, does not necessitate halting production for weeks and does not involve complex permits or redesigns. It simply involves installing removable thermal blankets, technical linings, or custom insulation in the areas identified as priorities by the analysis.

The effect is immediate and measurable: less heat loss, less energy consumed and less CO₂ emitted.

And the best part is that the return on investment can be calculated even before the work begins, because the audit provides precise data for each individual point: lost kWh, annual cost of heat loss, expected savings after the work and reduction in emissions.

First eliminate visible waste, then look to the future with renewables and heat recovery

Solar power, process electrification, heat recovery, smart monitoring: these are all important steps toward a more sustainable plant. But starting there without first eliminating basic energy losses is like installing solar panels on a house with broken windows. The effect is there, but part of the investment is negated by the waste that remains.

Insulation is the prerequisite—the intervention with the most favorable cost-benefit ratio and the quickest to implement.

Every euro saved on energy loss becomes a euro you can reinvest in more advanced technologies, starting from an optimized energy foundation and with already achieved measurable results.

How to find out exactly where your system is wasting energy and how much it’s costing you

The process is simpler than it seems. It starts with a TipCheck energy audit—New Componit’s technical inspection with thermographic analysis—which maps all the uninsulated or poorly insulated areas of your plant and calculates, for each one, the energy loss in kWh, the annual cost and the potential savings.

The result is an objective snapshot that tells you exactly where to take action, in what order and with what expected return

Finally, you have the data and numbers you need to make informed decisions.

Most companies put it off. “We’ll do it next year.” “We have other priorities right now.” Meanwhile, the operating margin shrinks a little every month, without anyone being able to pinpoint the exact cause.

If you want to understand how much your facility is losing, let’s talk. New Componit has been conducting TipCheck audits and industrial insulation projects for 40 years, in Italy and around the world. The first step is to look at the numbers together.

Request Your TIPCHECK Audit Now

Simone Balbi

General Manager
Expert in industrial insulation and expansion joints. Supports companies in innovation and the search for reliable and safe solutions.

20 May 2026

Is it possible to insulate a fabric expansion joint ?

The answer is : it depends on the fabric expansion joint !

Specifically, what makes the difference is the initial choice made during the design phase. Let’s see together what this means.

So my advice is : always specify in your requests for proposals whether in your plant the expansion joints are insulated or not. You will need this to avoid nasty surprises and unplanned plant shutdowns.

Want to improve comfort and performance in your plant with a tailored solution?

Request Your Free TIPCHECK Audit Now

Export Sales Manager
Contributes to the development of textile solutions for thermal insulation and industrial protection. Collaborates in the engineering of expansion joints, insulating cushions, and passive fire protections, overseeing every phase of the process to ensure efficiency, precision, and reliability in the energy sector.

2 September 2024

How to limit heat dispersion in industrial plants and save on bills?

How to reduce energy consumption?

How to cut bill costs?

These 2 questions have accompanied us throughout 2022 and are still a current topic in 2023 .

Companies, large or small, are constantly engaged in trying to optimize the process and reduce the consumption.

So what can we do concretely?

In the case of industrial factories, it often happens that the plants waste large quantities of energy, without anyone being aware of it; it seems incredible but it is true and in our work we have met several situations of this type.

In every minute of working, the plant wastes energy, increasing the costs and becoming a source of pollution.

Why does this situation occur?

Inside an industrial plant, there can be “some areas” in which we find a dispersion of heat, which would instead be necessary, for the correct working of the plant and since the necessity of reaching the foreseen temperatures requires energy, it is important to prevent this loss.

First of all it is necessary to check the condition of: pipes, valves, filters or other equipment which may be poorly insulated or, even worse, not insulated at all .

Therefore the thermal insulation of plants is an excellent solution for controlling the energy consumption; however this system has several others advantages, let’s see them together.

1. Reduction of CO₂ emissions

With the reduction of energy consumption and heat dispersion, we automatically reduce also CO₂ emissions released into the atmosphere .

Therefore, in addition to saving money, a company can also limit the effects of its impact on the environment.

2. Reduction of other company costs

As you know, there are many other costs, in addition to energy consumption, which have an impact on the company financial reports, among these there are expenses related to maintenance of equipment or replacement of worn parts.

If there is heat dispersion in a plant, it is possible that the equipment are working under a stress condition, that ruin them more quickly and then require maintenance or replacement.

3. Increase of safety

Insulation not only protects your workers, from dangers related to hot and cold spots inside the plant, but also from noise. It is then a benefit also in terms of protection of workers’ health.

Fear of initial investment

Despite the above mentioned benefits, companies are often frightened by the costs of installation, or optimization of thermal insulation systems. In this case, it is necessary to look at numbers, reflecting on energy savings and on the recoup times of the investment.

A series of specific studies have been conducted, in order to examine in depth the relationship between the energy savings, obtained thanks to insulation system and the energy consumption necessary to produce it; a few months of use are enough to compensate for these two factors.

It also emerges that, during their life, the insulating jackets can save up to 150 times the energy necessary for their production.

When we talk about thermal insulation, it is important to find solutions designed according to customer’s specific need and which take into account 3 basic points :

temperatures;
reduction of emissions in atmosphere ;
consequent energy saving;

This is the only way to find a solution that leads to real energy efficiency. In these cases we cannot improvise.

New Componit is an official member of Eiif (European Industrial Insulation Foundation) and has obtained the certification to provide the Tipcheck, the energy audit for plants, which has the aim of drawing up a detailed report on the possible thermal insulation interventions to carry out, in order to obtain real and measurable energy savings.

Exactly with an eye on energy saving, NEW COMPONIT has designed Enersave, the thermal jackets for valves and flanges that allow to optimise consumption and protect the environment.

Enersave jackets can be disassembled and then reapplied and can also be customized according to individual needs.