A sustainable insulation that can be recycled and reused
A building is only as efficient as its envelope. Unfortunately, for many buildings, that envelope isn’t very efficient. In fact, Europe’s building stock is responsible for 40 % of the EU’s total energy consumption, making it the Continent’s single biggest energy user. The good news is that these buildings can be renovated and made more energy-efficient. The bad news is that the insulation used in doing so isn’t very sustainable. “Most of the materials used to insulate buildings are oil-based, meaning they have a rather substantial carbon footprint and limited possibilities for recycling or reuse,” says Eddie Koenders, a researcher at the Technical University of Darmstadt. But this could soon change thanks to an innovative, foam-based insulation being developed by the EU-funded NRG-STORAGE project. “Our goal was to develop a sustainable, prefabricated insulation material that is light, easy to install and, ultimately, makes non-residential buildings more energy-efficient,” adds Koenders, who coordinated the project.
A sustainable, ultralight cementitious foam
The outcome of this work is an ultralight cementitious foam that can be applied to the outside of a building. “What makes this material so unique is that it allows heat energy to be stored in the insulation that is applied to a building’s outer surface,” explains Koenders. Not only does this stabilise the temperature inside the building, it also reduces energy demand. “Another important benefit is that our foam-based insulation enables a 60 % reduction in insulation thickness, meaning more buildings can be insulated using less raw material,” notes Koenders.
Collaboration is key
The project is the result of a close collaboration between industry and academia – a collaboration that has proved key to the project’s success. “It was this collaboration that allowed us to realise the full research and development targets of the project – from finding the right mix for the ultralight foam to upscaling this mix to industrial production,” remarks Koenders. With the right mix in hand, the project produced its foam-based insulation panels in Germany, which were then installed in demonstration buildings in Bulgaria. Researchers are now measuring the energy performance of the buildings to see how the NRG-STORAGE solution performs compared to traditional insulation materials. “The initial results are very promising,” says Koenders. The project is also running demonstrations at one of its partner company’s facilities in Spain.
Efficient, recyclable and reusable
Although there’s more work to be done, Koenders is confident that the project’s foam-based insulation will prove to be a game changer – one that will make Europe’s building stock more efficient and enable a circular economy. “The legacy of our work is a highly innovative idea for a sustainable insulation material that is energy-efficient and fully recyclable and reusable,” concludes Koenders. The project’s partners continue to collaborate and are currently working to scale up production of the insulation panels and bring them to market.
Keywords
NRG-STORAGE, sustainable, insulation material, energy-efficient, building stock, recycled, reused, circular economy, cementitious foam
