Aspen Aerogels says it has begun selling air-filled aerogel insulation blankets to make existing buildings more energy efficient.
The company, which primarily makes insulating material for industrial applications, has already installed the aerogels in homes in the U.K. and U.S.
Aerogels are porous nanomaterials that are made by removing the liquid from silica gels under high temperature and pressure, leaving a material that’s more than 90 percent air.
They were invented in 1931 by Samuel Stephens Kistler at the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
An aerogel’s structure makes it a good, lightweight insulation material, making it difficult for heat to pass through. But aerogels are expensive to manufacture, and until now were used only in industrial or high-profile applications such as insulating oil pipelines or the Mars Rover spacecraft.
(The Mars Rover used a solid silica aerogel that was 99.8 percent air.)
Now, companies such as Cabot and ThermaBlok are offering thin aerogel blankets to replace traditional insulation made of fiberglass, foam or cellulose.
The price has come down enough that the premium is reasonable enough for applications in difficult situations, such as masonry or other walls without a cavity in which to stuff traditional insulation.
The companies also sell aerogel granules for loose-fill applications.
Aspen Aerogels calls its product “Spaceloft,” and says it has two to four times the insulating value per inch compared to fiberglass or foam.
The product is also fire resistant and allows water vapor to pass through.
SmartPlanet sister site CNET details a recent installation in the U.S.:
The Rhode Island Housing Authority used Spaceloft during a renovation of a housing complex with 50 units in five brick buildings built in 1940s with no insulation. Contractors stapled the blankets of aerogel on the inside walls, screwed wall board on top of that, and then added a layer of plaster and paint. An advantage of this approach is that it wasn’t too disruptive to people inside and added less than an inch to the interior walls, Blair said. The payback was just over five years when tax credits are figured in, according to Aspen Aerogels.
The material is versatile enough to use in thin strips or beneath shingles — a good thing, since the easiest approach to the home insulation market is retrofitting older buildings.
