Going Green and Saving Jobs
Chemists and Materials Scientists Create Green Windows and Drywall for More Energy Efficient Buildings
Jul 31, 2009
Inside Science News ServiceScience Insider
HOW INSULATION WORKS: Heat only flows in one direction: from a hotter object to a colder one, such as when your morning cup of coffee cools until it is the same temperature as your kitchen. Insulation serves as a barrier to minimize the transfer of heat from one material (the coffee) to another (the air around you). For example, pouring your coffee into a thermos made of an insulating material will prevent heat from escaping. Your coffee will stay hotter longer. Heat is transferred primarily through conduction, which occurs when materials directly contact each other. The atoms and molecules bump into those of the neighboring material, allowing energy to flow between them. Heat can also be transferred through convection. This happens with the flow of air and water. These substances don't readily conduct heat, but they can transfer heat energy through motion. Finally, hot objects emit infrared light, which can cause them to lose heat by transferring that energy to other objects -- heating up those objects in the process.
HOW CAN HOMES CONSERVE ENERGY? There are many ways in which houses can conserve energy. Improvements in energy-efficient lighting can reduce power usage by as much as 65 percent. In fact, if every American household changed just five of the most-used lighting fixtures to energy-efficient technology, they would save a total of $6 billion in costs and reduce power usage by the equivalent of the annual output of more than 21 power plants. Many homes have high-performance, energy-efficient windows -- featuring double glazing or special coatings -- to reduce heat loss in cooler climates and heat gain in warmer climates. These two factors account for 50 percent of a home's heating and cooling needs. Replacing window frames with low-conductance materials like wood, vinyl and fiberglass can also improve a home's insulating capability.
The Materials Research Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report. This report has also been produced thanks to a generous grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.
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Twelve-and-a-half-million Americans are out of work right now.
In a time where pink slips are being used more than post-its, one company is going green -- to make some green. Changing how we make things could help change our economy.
Five months ago Robin Scott was laid off. Now, he's headed back to the factory. Scott is one of hundreds of people hired by Serious Materials.
In these tough economic times, this company just opened a window factory outside of Pittsburgh. Another one is set to open in Chicago. Why are they expanding while other companies are downsizing?
"Energy efficiency is the least expensive way to drive energy independence and reduce CO2 and reduce energy usage," Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials in Sunnyvale, Calif., told Ivanhoe.
His company is a winner in President Obamaýs energy-efficient stimulus plan. The company's insulating windows can reduce heating and cooling costs by up to 50 percent. One newly designed window is 400 times more energy efficient than traditional ones.
"There's actually plastic film in the middle, and what this does is it reduces the amount of convection inside the window," Surace said. "By reducing the amount of convection, you transfer less heat."
Surace says in a typical house in the Northeast, the homeowner will save $100,000 over 30 years in energy costs. Serious Materials is also turning drywall green. The companyýs chemists tested 5,000 recipes before coming up with EcoRock. Recycled materials from steel and cement processing react chemically when mixed with water to bind together without any added heat.
"It's about 80 percent recycled content," Surace said. "During its manufacturing, it generates 80 percent less overall CO2." It generates less CO2 because there's no cooking in the process like traditional drywall. The drywall is also mold-resistant and termite-resistant.
Five percent of all energy lost in the United States escapes through inefficient windows. Their construction hasnýt changed since the window's invention in the late 1800s.
As far as costs, both the windows and the drywall are comparable to other high quality building materials.
