Polyurethane Structural Insulated Panels - Green Building Technology at its Best!

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Styrene Among Top Suspected Carcinogens - American Cancer Society

This recent article - Top 5 Suspected Everyday Carcinogens in the American Cancer Society's Scary New Report - issued in July of 2010, notes that styrene, the primary component in expanded polystyrene or EPS (Dow trade name Styrofoam), is a leading suspected carcinogen by the American Cancer Society. Long known as a neurotoxin, more and more evidence has been shown that styrenes can leach out of polystyrene or Styrofoam food packaging and into the very food that we consume. In fact many towns in California already have or are presently attempting to ban polystyrene food packaging due to both health safety and lack of recyclability concerns. Do you think it is chemically impossible for styrenes to "leach" out of a polystyrene chain? In fact the belief is that the leaching styrenes were never part of the polymer chain to begin with. Because the manufacturing process is not entirely efficient, not all styrenes are joined into the polymer chain and remain free to "roam" in the future. By the way, the word "styrene" is simply a marketing name for vinyl benzene.

Why is this relevant on a polyurethane structural insulated panel website? For years many of our competitors that manufacture EPS (expanded polystyrene) SIPs have been lying to potential customers of ours and literally telling people that our panels will off-gas and kill people (seriously, they say "kill people"). In fact the exact same foam that we use in our panels is commonly used in Energy Star rated refrigerators and Igloo(R) coolers manufactured today - and the last time I checked there were no stories on refrigerators or coolers killing people or even being suspected of doing any harmful thing. Yet now we are seeing more and more articles on styrenes being found in human tissue samples (as in studies referenced in several of the links above). I think this is the same concept that some politicians use - accuse your enimies of what you are actually doing yourself to divert attention from your own deeds. As you can read on our website, the polyurethane foam that we use in our panels is stronger, safer, more chemically stable and almost twice as insulative per inch as expanded polystyrene or EPS.

To me this casts an entirely new light on the thought of living in a building envelope made entirely of polystyrene foam as one would do when choosing to build with EPS SIPs. Wouldn't this put you in the same category as the food inside a Styrofoam food container? While I have seen no evidence of anyone studying the health effects of persons living in a home made of EPS panels, it is not a chance that I would want to take. And with the growing amount of literature on styrene's leaching, neurotoxic and carcinogenic effects, I wonder if there is the potential for future lawsuits against persons that specified the product for construction.

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Eco-Panels in the Caribbean - Again

After our work last year for Brad Pitt's Make it Right Foundation in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans we progressed on to the beautiful island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. After years of competitive product evaluation, Stanley Selengut, known as "the father of Eco-Tourism", has selected Eco-Panels to be the provider of floor, wall and roof panels for his eco-resort Concordia Cottages, a follow-on to his world famous Maho Bay Eco-Resort. As this is not our first foray into the Caribbean (having previously done work for the US Government/National Parks Service in the Floria Keys as well as Haiti) Eco-Panels is excited to once again be working in this beautiful environment. Below is a recent press release from the Virgin Island's Department of Tourism noting the development receiving a green building award for the island. Eco-Panels has already started work on the next phase of this wonderful development - please pay them a visit!

New Award-Winning Concordia Eco-Studios

Glenn Speer, architect; Stanley Selengut, owner; Robert Crane, IGBA

Located on Caribbean island St. John, well known for its protected tropical forests and white-sand beaches, Concordia Eco-Resort has lead the way in environmentally sensitive construction since its inception in the mid-1990s. In addition to its award-winning 25 Eco-Tents and 9 Studios, the eco-resort now boasts newly constructed Eco-Studios featuring sustainable building materials.

Guests who visit the U.S. Virgin Islands to vacation in the new Eco-Studios are more likely to be aware of the sweeping panoramic ocean views and the beauty of the VI National Park than the technology that has afforded them the cool comfort of their accommodations The building plans have nevertheless earned owner Stanley Selengut the 4-Star Tropical Green Building Certification awarded by the Island Green Building Association http://www.igba-stjohn.org/ .

IGBA's 4-Star award recognizes Concordia Eco-Studios for setting a new standard of sustainable building in the U.S Virgin Islands, utilizing the Eco-Panels building system, the most advanced integrated panel building system on the market today http://www.eco-panels.com/. These 6-inch panels, comprised of foam between the inside wall and outside plywood, are wrapped with construction cloth and finished with fiber-cement siding.

Selengut says of the new units, "This is the first project of its kind on the island--and probably anywhere in the world." He describes the function of the Eco-Panels as "a walk-in refrigerator--they keep the sun's rays out" maximizing the coastal island breezes. He continues, "When you bond these together, they are strong as concrete, but there is no concrete used in these units except the hand-dug footings and columns. So you can really build over the ground with very little disturbance to the site and no building material waste. It really is a big step forward in new ways to approach construction."

In addition to the insulated panels, the cutting edge construction includes TekFoil roof insulation and Energy Star rated metal roofing as well as HardiPlank siding to protect Eco-Studio guests from the hot Caribbean sun. Energy use is offset with a PhotoVoltaic system tied to the local utility company. Site sensitive planning was required for the ongoing project with minimal site damage and construction waste due to the pre-fabricated panel construction. In keeping with the natural surroundings of St. John, the buildings were sited to retain maximum number of native plants and the native vegetation greenbelt was retained along the roadway and all sides of the property.

The new Eco-Studios are also a showcase for the use of recycled art created at sister eco-resort Maho Bay’s Art Center. Each unit features glass and concrete countertops, tiles, and lampshades, and clay sconces fired at Maho's pallet-burning kiln. The crushed recycled glass comes from soda and beer bottles collected at both eco-resorts with an average of 30 bottles per square foot used for the countertops, so the counters in the four new units put to good use about 600 glass bottles that would otherwise have been trash.

Each of the four new Eco-Studios is able to accommodate four people with queen-sized bed plus a queen-sized futon sofa/bed as well as kitchen facilities, bathroom with solar-heated shower and comfortable private deck. Location of the new studios allows guests excellent access to Salt Pond beach trail and Café Concordia. Currently construction is underway for an additional four units with an expected completion date December 2010. For further information about Concordia Eco-Resort visit website http://www.maho.org/ email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (340) 693-5855.

Eco-Panels can offer 10x ROI vs. Photovoltaic Panels

I saw yesterday that another area solar company recently recevied grants from the federal government. I'm happy for them. Really. But I'm curious to know how many people have "done the math" on the return on investment of installing a photovoltaic (PV) system vs. a product like Eco-Panels? I'm guessing that they would be surprised by the resultes.