| Feature
Plug it Right
Energy conservation has become a critical aspect for the
construction world. Buildings contribute to 50 per cent of
a city’s energy consumption and about 40-50 per cent
of a building’s energy bill comes from its air-conditioning.
Insulation plays an important role at the time of constructing
a building. Optimum level of building insulation not only
helps lower monthly energy bills but also adds to overall
comfort. Insulation helps maintain a comfortable temperature
by reducing air leakages. And a lower load on air-conditioning
means lower energy bills.
Why insulate?
Inadequate insulation and air leakage are the leading causes
of energy wastage in most homes. Insulation saves money and
makes your house more comfortable by helping to maintain a
uniform temperature throughout the house. It makes walls,
ceilings, and floors warmer in the winter and cooler in the
summer. Ideally, by insulating a structure, we prevent or
significantly diminish the heat transfer process. Insulation
is rated with an R-value, which is supposed to indicate the
material’s ability to resist heat flow - the higher
the R-value, greater the insulating effectiveness.
The amount of energy conserved by insulation depends on several
factors: local climate; the size, shape, and construction
of house; the type and efficiency of the heating and cooling
systems; and the lifestyle of inhabitants. Once energy savings
have paid for the installation cost, energy conserved is money
saved - and saving energy will be even more important as utility
rates go up.
A range of insulation materials can be installed in a building.
One among them is foam-blowing agents.
Foam-blowing agents
Rigid and flexible plastic foams have a variety of applications
that utilise combinations of inherently high insulating value,
lightweight structural characteristics, resilience and low
density. Foam-blowing agents are used to produce polyurethanes
with strong insulating properties. These can be used for a
wide variety of applications, including refrigerators, automobiles,
furniture and packaging, apart from building.
“Sprayed polyurethane foam (SPF) has been used as a
high-performance insulation system, which also provides leak
prevention as it forms a monolithic seal and fully waterproofed
surface over the entire building,” says Anjan Ray, Director,
Honeywell Specialty Materials. Blowing agoents make foam expand
during application. Trapped in the foam cells, they are the
main factors in determining thermal conductivity value. Honeywell
offers Enovate 245fa, an important ingredient in closed-cell
polyurethane spray foam. Several hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs)
have excellent thermal insulating characteristics. These specific
properties have made them good candidates as foam-blowing
agents. Enovate blowing agent is a liquid HFC, which was developed
as a blowing agent for rigid insulating foams. It is a replacement
for HCFC-141b and other fluorocarbon and non-fluorocarbon
blowing agents. Because of their low toxicity and anti-flammable
properties, HFCs are also a foam-blowing agent of choice in
in-situ insulation.
“Spray foam is non-flammable and non-ozone depleting
and can be produced in place at the building site to meet
the exact building needs with little waste,” adds Ray.
“It also offers a high insulation value, which means
it can deliver higher levels of insulation in tighter spaces.
It performs in hot and cold temperatures.”
Cutting energy costs
“Studies suggest that homes insulated with spray polyurethane
foam can use 20 to 40 per cent less energy than poorly insulated
ones,” Ray informs us.
“In these days of rapidly rising energy costs coupled
with increased energy shortages, energy is becoming more a
matter of organisational strategy than merely yet another
expense item on the P&L statement,” says Milind
Godbole, Regional General Manager, Honeywell Building Solutions.
“Whether it is large commercial or industrial facilities,
organisations are constantly seeing their energy bills head
north. This in turn impedes their ability to compete in the
marketplace or hurts their bottom line. All of this implies
the need for better energy management and conservation.”
Over their lifecycle, buildings are significant cost items
in terms of operations and maintenance expenses and energy
expenses. “If we look at the overall lifecycle costs
associated with any building, less than 30 per cent is the
spend on installation while nearly 70 per cent of the cost
is in lifecycle,” says Godbole. “This was historically
ignored because the 30 per cent was a one-time big spend while
the 70 per cent was smaller spends over 10-15 years. Now,
lifecycle costs and their management are occupying centre-stage.”
According to him, to date Honeywell globally has saved customers
nearly $ 2 billion in energy spends and $ 1.3 billion in associated
operating spends. This number is expected to rise to nearly
$ 6 billion by 2011. “Putting it into perspective, you
would actually need 40 million acre of solar panels to generate
the energy saved!” he adds with a chuckle.
Quick Bytes
• Inadequate insulation and air leakage are leading
causes of energy waste.
• SPF has been used as a high performance insulation
system, which also provides leak prevention as it forms a
monolithic seal and fully waterproofed surface over the entire
building.
• Optimum level of building insulation not only helps
lower monthly energy bills but also adds to overall comfort.
Case study
Louisiana Superdome
The 9.7-acre roof of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans
was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
Honeywell Enovate is a HFC that allows closed-cell insulation
to be sprayed on and provides the majority of the foam’s
insulation properties. A zero ozone-depleting blowing agent,
Enovate helped restore the permanent roof of the high-profile
sports venue. The rigid, closed-cell spray foam forms a seamless
seal that grips the roof surface, including any irregular
shapes or penetrations.
Traditional roofing materials often guarantee resistance
to gale force winds, or sustained winds of roughly 40 mph.
The new spray foam roof on the Superdome is guaranteed by
the spray foam manufacturer to resist hurricane force winds.
According to Ken Gayer, Business Director for Honeywell foam
insulation blowing agents, closed-cell polyurethane has proven
structural advantages under the most extreme weather conditions.
Closed-cell spray foam insulation is also used for residential
wall applications. The material offers homes a wide range
of advantages and benefits, including reduced air infiltration,
better moisture and condensation control, better structural
integrity and less energy usage for heating and cooling.
“Energy is becoming more a matter of organisational
strategy than merely yet another expense item on the P&L
statement.”
- Milind Godbole,
General Manager, Honeywell Building Solutions
“Homes insulated with spray polyurethane foam can use
20 to 40 per cent less energy than poorly insulated ones.”
- Anjan Ray, Director, Honeywell Specialty Materials
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