“Neopor” Innovation in Insulation

[Traves W. Ogilvie, AIBD, LEED AP]

When I first heard of Neopor my thought was – it’s too good to be true. The claim was an ecofficient rigid insulation that requires 50% less material to produce, with built in infrared absorbers and heat reflectors, touting an R-value of nearly (5) per inch, that’s affordable…yea right. Well one year later here we are, Neopor blocks on our production facility floor ready for fabrication, very Green and very exciting.
http://www.plasticsportal.net/wa/plasticsEU~en_GB/portal/show/content/products/foams/neopor_neu/neopor_downloads

Neopor is Expanded Polystyrene or (EPS). As claimed the innovation centers on the inclusion of graphite particles which serve as infrared absorbers and heat reflectors. This effectively increases the performance of Neopor by 20% over traditional EPS. Patented and developed by BASF the story goes like this “We spent a lot of time looking into the construction materials since they are the bedrock of quality. In this process, one thing became clear to us: the right insulation is key. The insulation has to provide protection against heat and cold weather; it helps to save energy, thus cutting costs. Besides, the material should not pose a risk to the environment or health and yet, it should be affordable”. This was a tall order indeed but one worth undertaking.

Neopor is so new and so innovative not many people have heard of it yet. The Lightship Group has been working with kama-EEBS™ and BASF for some time now to bring Neopor to our Green Building System manufacturing process. We’re proud to announce that we’ve commissioned the very first Neopor blocks to be molded in New England. Slated for delivery in late May these blocks will be used to make kama-EEBS™ wall and roof sections. By using Neopor we take a product, which already embodies Green technology and principles, and propel it to the next level of Ecofficiency and performance. Neopor really does set the standard to efficient thermal insulation and environmental compatibility. Allow me to say it again Neopor uses 50% LESS RAW MATERIAL to manufacture.

When you look at material and its ability to safeguard the environment and promote climate protection the calculation uses a formula which considers raw material and the resources needed to produce the product. Neopor’s score is off the charts. BASF explains “Ecofficiency means giving equal weight to costs and environmental burdens. Material and energy consumption, costs, savings potential- together all of these aspects yield the ecofficiency of the product”. Neopor enjoys one of the highest Ecofficiency ratings of any similar product on the market today.

http://www.plasticsportal.net/wa/plasticsEU~en_GB/function/conversions:/publish/common/upload/foams/Neopor_Building_and_modernising_with_Neopor_EN.pdf
Kama-EEBS™ - manufactured locally by The Lightship Group - uses Neopor as the insulating core material in their Thermal Framing Systems. Heavily involved in the development of Advanced Building Envelope Technology the Lightship Group’s kama-EEBS™ systems integrate insulation and eliminate thermal bridging, www.kama-eebs.com The first step towards building Green must be implementing an efficient building envelope. By utilizing advanced Neopor insulation technology, and the kama-EEBS™ patented Thermal Framing Systems, building owners can easily realize a 60% reduction in heating and cooling costs, annually.

To use Neopor on your project or to learn more contact Lightship at [e-mail] or join us on June 6th at 3:00 PM for our workshop entitled “Advanced Building Envelope Technology” at the Apeiron Institutes Sustainable Living Festival http://www.apeiron.org/slf2009/index2.html . Neopor Movie;http://www.plasticsportal.net/wa/plasticsEU~en_GB/portal/show/content/products/foams/neopor_neu/neopor_popups/neopor_videostream