Natural insulation cuts energy consumption greenly

Meeting the world's growing energy demands in a way that offsets dependence on combustion of fossil fuels and its associated impact on climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. At the same time that the European construction sector must address energy consumption with retrofit insulation of buildings, the EU is still in the middle of a severe economic crisis. This makes it difficult to exploit expensive state-of-the-art vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) over more cost-effective conventional solutions.

Providing a solution for the EU construction sector of which more than 99 % are SMEs was the impetus behind the EU-funded project VIP4ALL (Highly sustainable and effective production of innovative low cost vacuum insulation panels for zero carbon building construction). The focus is on developing a cost-effective VIP concept exploiting natural mineral and/or renewable organic by-products as core materials. The design is expected to not only cut the price of VIPs in half but also improve performance and sustainability. All design work for materials and processing technologies is being fully supported by development of predictive modelling tools.

The VIPs consist of an envelope surrounding a core. The team first established a comprehensive database of raw materials characteristics leading to identification of two envelope systems and four hybrid core compositions for further investigation. Core processing technologies were optimised and a number of formulations prepared.

Now in the laboratory testing phase, the proposed core compositions have shown great promise with insulation performance similar to that of conventional VIPs. In parallel, a thin protective outer layer for the envelope has been produced and also appears to be a promising component of the eventual solution.

VIP4ALL is making excellent progress towards delivery of affordable, high-performance VIPs made from sustainable materials for retrofit of Europe's ageing buildings. The technology will provide a welcome alternative for the construction sector, which contributes an amazing 10 % of total EU gross domestic product and is the leading industrial employer in Europe. VIP4ALL will make a major contribution to the viability and competitive position of this critical pillar of the EU economy.