Eco-friendly foam insulates buildings without warming the globe
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed an eco-friendly foam insulation for improved building efficiency.
Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Greener insulation reduces environmental impact of foam products.
Rigid foam boards used to insulate buildings can prevent energy loss, making homes more efficient at keeping warm or cool. The advantages in energy efficiency, however, are undercut by environmental concerns over polystyrene products. Blowing agents used in foam production, such as hydrocarbons and hydrofluoroolefins, end up in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a competitive, eco-friendly alternative made without harmful blowing agents. The nontoxic thermoplastic foam is made using hollow glass spheres and expandable polymer microspheres.
“The combination of these two sources allows us to tailor formulations to maintain the material’s thermal performance across a limited range of densities” said ORNL’s Meghan Lamm. “We are also working with thermoset materials, which offer high-temperature stability, for improved flame resistance.”
“The technology is readily adoptable by industry and opens avenues to develop safer composite foams for a variety of insulation systems,” said ORNL’s Tolga Aytug.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov.
Journal: Polymer
DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2022.125652
Media Contact
Karen Dunlap
DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
dunlapkk@ornl.gov
Office: 865-696-5910
All latest news from the category: Ecology, The Environment and Conservation
This complex theme deals primarily with interactions between organisms and the environmental factors that impact them, but to a greater extent between individual inanimate environmental factors.
innovations-report offers informative reports and articles on topics such as climate protection, landscape conservation, ecological systems, wildlife and nature parks and ecosystem efficiency and balance.
Newest articles
New method verifies carbon capture in concrete
Confirming CO2 origins could be useful for emissions trading. Carbon capture is essential to reduce the impact of human carbon dioxide emissions on our climate. Researchers at the University of…
Seeing cancer’s spread through a computational window
Computational model allows researchers to simulate cellular-scale interactions across unprecedented distances in the human vasculature. Biomedical engineers at Duke University have significantly enhanced the capabilities of a computational model that…
Compact accelerator technology achieves major energy milestone
Particle accelerators hold great potential for semiconductor applications, medical imaging and therapy, and research in materials, energy and medicine. But conventional accelerators require plenty of elbow room — kilometers —…