Sustainability

In recent years, builders, architects and specifiers have taken a more active role in sustainability. Providing for the sustainability of a building serves to prolong its life while also considering the building’s long-term environmental impact. Said another way, this means the products used in the construction process are chosen with a mind-set that seeks to minimize the impact on the environment while also conserving a building’s longevity. When evaluating the most relevant attributes of an environmentally-preferable insulation product, architects and specifiers should consider life-cycle effects. Life cycle analyses can be conducted in several ways. Meaningful information can be gleaned about LCA of XPS applications, so please refer to the following links for additional information about the performance of XPS.

Insulating Sheathing Analysis

Energy and Environmental Benefits

Societal and Environmental Benefits of XPS

Carbon Dioxide Emissions and XPS Insulation

An essential attribute for any sustainable building product, especially insulation, is its ability to perform its intended function over its useful life without property-performance degradation. The long-term thermal performance (LTTR) of XPS is essential for the proper design of a building’s heating and air conditioning systems. For example, water absorption can compromise the thermal performance of a product over time. XPS has water absorption properties that are second to none, primarily due to the closed-cell structure of the foam.

In commercial applications, XPS is one of the few insulation materials that work well in garden roof designs, (for more information on Protected Roof Membrane Assemblies, PMRA, click here, as well as its use under highly-reflective roofing membranes such as thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO’s). XPS used as highway insulation (“Geofoam”) can help lower the maintenance costs in highway construction. For more information about this use, visit our website page here. http://www.xpsa.com/other/geofoam.html.

Whatever the application, the primary benefit of choosing XPS insulation products for green or sustainable applications are that they are warranted to retain 90% of their R-value over a 15- to 20-year service life.