Low heating bills and a low carbon footprint
The BASF House, a state-of-the-art energy efficient home, is rapidly taking shape at The University of Nottingham. Its ready-made, highly insulating first floor and roof, both made using the same material, have been installed in two days.
The first floor walls and roof of The BASF House, part of the University’s Creative Energy Homes Project, have been constructed using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). The 150mm thick panels have a rigid polyurethane foam insulation core, sandwiched between structural skins and are manufactured by SIPit (Scotland) Limited, one of SIP Building Systems specialist partners.
“The advantage of using these ready-made SIPs in our build is the speed of installation as the building time for the first floor and roof can almost be halved with little or no construction waste,” says BASF’s project manager Claire Farrar.
“But the greatest advantage within the house itself is the superior insulating properties of SIPs. Up to 40% of the cost of heating and cooling a conventionally built home can be lost because of air leakage through the walls and roof. Using SIPs can reduce air leakage and thermal bridging by up to 90% because of the rigid foam core. These precisely made seamless walls have an extremely low thermal conductivity level because there is a continuous span of insulation,” says Ms Farrar.
SIPs are gaining in popularity in the construction market. The polyurethane foam core used in The BASF House project is Elastopor H from Elastogran, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF. The panel’s skin is made from oriented strand board (OSB3), manufactured from fast-growth, forest thinnings from sustainable forests. Reducing the carbon footprint of the house is a key objective. Overall a house built with SIPs uses much less wood that a stud-framed house.
Associate Professor, Dr Mark Gillott of the Institute of Sustainable Energy Technology at the University states that "the Creative Energy Homes Project is a research and educational showcase which aims to provide constructors and developers with affordable solutions to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency in the Built Environment."
Construction of The BASF House began at the end of August. Early work has focused on the foundations installing a ground-air heat exchanger and rainwater collection systems. Building the house walls finally began at the beginning of November with the ground floor made from insulated concrete formwork infilled with a specialist admixture from BASF, Rheocell ICF, which significantly lowers the carbon footprint of the concrete. BASF will be showcasing these housing elements on Stand E512 at the ecobuild exhibition at Earls Court in February.
Gill Kelleher, market development team, BASF plc
M 07966 123452
John Allen, general manager, SIP Building Systems Ltd
M 07989 572485
Notes for editors:
The Creative Energy Homes Project
The Creative Energy Homes project is a showcase of innovative state-of-the art energy efficient homes of the future being built on the University Park at Nottingham. Five houses will be designed and constructed to various degrees of innovation and flexibility to allow the testing of different aspects of modern methods of construction. The project aims to stimulate sustainable design ideas and promote new ways of providing affordable, environmentally sustainable housing that are innovative in their design. The BASF House is being built on Plot 3, University Park in Nottingham. Further information on the BASF House on www.house.basf.co.uk.
BASF shaping a sustainable future with innovative chemistry
In helping to shape a sustainable future, BASF is committed to energy efficiency and saving resources by developing innovative solutions. Energy efficiency is one of the ways we can meet the growing need for resources and energy on our planet and at the same time support climate protection. This can only be achieved through joint efforts by politics, society, science and business. In its role, as The Chemical Company, BASF is dedicated to using energy efficient production processes at its major sites worldwide. Furthermore, it uses its know-how in chemistry to develop innovative products and solutions that help its customers as well as the end-consumer to save energy and resources. In 2007 BASF will invest €1.4 billion in research and development and approximately one third of this budgeted figure will be dedicated to energy efficient and saving resources.
BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural products and fine chemicals to crude oil and natural gas. As a reliable partner to virtually all industries, BASF's high-value products and intelligent system solutions help its customers to be more successful. BASF develops new technologies and uses them to meet the challenges of the future and open up additional market opportunities. It combines economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility, thus contributing to a better future. BASF has approximately 95,000 employees and posted sales of €52.6 billion in 2006. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF on www.basf.com.