The following segment aired on “Designing Spaces” on Lifetime Television. Joining the show was David Kang to discuss soy-based insulation in the home.
Designing Spaces: We'll start today's episodewith a really odd question. What do soy beans and saving money on your electric bills have in common? Well would you believe home insulation? Here is John Foreman with the answer from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Foreman: With growing awareness of the importance of protecting the environment, more homes are using green products. Green building materials do not damage the environment and they offer energy saving advantages to help the future home function more efficiently and cost effectively. One such material is your homes insulation. Your home’s insulation plays a huge part in your utility bills as well as your general comfort. New technology has more and more made the old fiberglass insulation a second-rate method for insulating your home.
Designing Spaces: Today we're going to take a look at a new advancement in insulation material called Soyuretherm 50. Joining us is David Kang of Urethan Soy Systems. Welcome, Dave.
Kang: Thank you very much.
Designing Spaces: David, when I hear the words soy, I can’t help but thinking health food. Now what is Soyuretherm 50 installation?
Kang: Well, Soyuretherm 50 is a polyurethane spray foam installation that's made using a soy based technology. Now this is opposed to traditional spray foams that use petroleum-based technologies. Soy based polyurethane has either equal or better physical characteristics than the traditional petroleum based spray foams. Aside from that there are also added green benefits that we can achieve using soyuretherm 50. For instance, we can help reduce our dependency of foreign oil because we use a bio-reusable resource that's grown right here in America: soy beans. And most importantly, it can help us reduce our net carbon foot print on the environment.
Designing Spaces: David, why should I choose a soy-based foam as opposed to the others, what are the advantages?
Kang: Well aside from the green benefits that we just talked about there's also no harmful chemicals in the material. There's no VOC's, there's no formaldehyde, and there's also no asbestos. We apply it as a liquid onto the wall and it expands roughly 120 times its liquid volume creating a monolithic form that is air impenetrable where applied. It's also water resistant. It's a great insulation for people with allergies stemming from dust, pollen, mildew, or mold. Since there is no moisture in the foam there can be no mold.
Designing Spaces: As I mentioned before Soyuretherm 50 polyurethane will save money, but how?
Kang: Well, it is true, using polyurethane spray foam will initially cost a little more than traditional insulation but there's a couple of different ways that you can decrease those costs. First, during the construction of your home we can actually help you downsize your HVAC system; with your heating and cooling system running much more efficiently without all the air filtration, then you don't need a unit that big. You can save up to 40 percent on your monthly utility bills. Now with these savings typically you see payback anywhere between 24 to 36 months and after that payback period, everything that you save goes right back into your pocket. Also, it can cut down on noise transfer from room to room inside of your home as well as noise pollution outside of your home such as cars on a noisy roadway.
Designing Spaces: Insulations materials often have strong odors. David, how does Soyuretherm 50 insulation smell?
Kang: Well, let’s go take a look. As you can see it’s a pretty simple and straightforward process. Before we start spraying, we actually come into a house and prep it. What we do is we will poly-seal around all the windows and doors to make sure that we have all the big cracks covered. Then we come back through and then we cover all of these windows and doors to make sure we don't get any overspray on them and then after that we start spraying, like what Mike is doing over here.
Designing Spaces: So, David, I don't really smell anything at all why is that?
Kang: Well the reason you don't smell any odor, is because we actually deodorize our polyall before we add it to our material, unlike many other spray foams. Also we don't have any formaldehyde in our product.
Designing Spaces: So this truly is a green product, right?
Kang: Absolutely. Soyuretherm 50 is the greatest insulation product on the market. It can help us reduce our dependency on foreign oil; because we use the bio-reusable resource soy, which is grown right here in America, and to the amount of soy content that we have in our material. They actually have a net reduction of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So with all that being said, we can provide our home owner with a green environmentally friendly home that is energy efficient and the most important thing is we can help our homeowners save money on their monthly utility bills, what more can you ask for?
Designing Spaces: Thanks a lot, David, thanks for joining.
Kang: Thank you, John.
Foreman: I'm John Foreman, taking a look at future home constructions for designing spaces.
Designing Spaces: Now, that's some fascinating stuff!
About Designing Spaces on Lifetime Television
The show on Lifetime is a half-hour informative series that inspires viewers to make every space count. “Designing Spaces” instructs them on the smartest ways to make their homes more beautiful and functional. To view episodes online, just go to http://www.designingspaces.tv. If you have a great idea for a story, or want to be a part of our show, please contact LysaLiemer at lysa@designingspaces.tv. If you have a great idea for a story, or want to be a part of the show please contact LysaLiemer at lysa@designingspaces.tv. You can also find us on Twitter at @DSpacesTV or on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/DSpacesTV!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Designing Spaces on Lifetime with Soyuretherm 50
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