Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition 2008
16-17 October, Barcelona, Spain
Reviewed by Dr Nino Mancino, conference co-convenor
Image gallery for the 3rd Global Insulation Conference 2008
Over 90 delegates from more than 20 countries met at the Hotel Fira Palace, Barcelona, between 16-17 October 2008 for the 3rd Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition. The conference was a considerable success, and drew a variety of insulation producers, equipment suppliers, R&D experts, academics and industry consultants together for two days of stimulating networking and knowledge-sharing.
Day One
After an enjoyable cocktail reception party on the preceding evening, the conference began at 9.00am on Monday 16 October with a keynote presentation from conference co-convenor Dr Robert McCaffrey. Entitled ‘Insulation – a punter’s experience,’ Dr McCaffrey described the process of having his house’s cavity walls insulated, from making the decision to insulate, finding a reputable company to do the work and describing in detail the installation job itself. Dr McCaffrey produced a list of pros and cons of having the work done. On the plus side, the house is much warmer and the heating bills have decreased accordingly. The return on investment, which cost approximately Euro220 in up-front costs, is expected to occur within 12 months. However, there were several negative aspects to the work. Apart from having large holes drilled into the house, which could affect its value, Dr McCaffrey was given no option or information on the specific insulating material used. The workmen also made little or no attempt to clean up after themselves.
There were many lessons to be learned from this experience. Firstly, potential customers must be given more information about what to expect and given more of a say as to the insulation material to be used. Furthermore, contractors must be reputable (which they were in this case), and must clean the work area once they are finished. Only in this way will a positive insulation ‘message’ spread among home-owners. Dr McCaffrey also stated his belief that each country should have a national insulation association (if they haven’t already got one) that should be proactive in extolling the virtues of insulation to the general public through different media channels.
The following three papers focused on the larger-scale market trends of the insulation industry in Europe. Beginning this theme was Nicolas Godet of Exane BNP Paribas who spoke about the outlook for insulation players in an ever-more challenging environment. In the long-term the fundamentals for the industry look strong; with energy relatively high in price and the continuing problem of rising CO2 emissions, as well as the streamlining of building regulations, insulation will become an even more important answer to these issues.
However, in the short-term, Mr Godet told the audience quite bluntly that the situation has deteriorated rapidly, with the worldwide financial downturn negatively affecting demand for construction and the availability of funds for new housing starts. The most badly affected markets are the residential sectors of the US, Spain, France, Italy and the UK, although eastern Europe remains positive. As a result, over-capacity will result in short-term price decreases.
Another area of concern that Mr Godet highlighted was the increasing number of companies that had garnered ‘aggressive’ levels of debt before the on-set of the credit crunch in August 2007. This is a problem for many insulation manufacturers, who are having to pay off their debt with punishing levels of interest. A notable exception to this is Rockwool, which is in the fortunate position of being relatively cash-rich. At this point in the presentation some envious glances were made in the direction of the Rockwool representatives in the audience. Mr Godet concluded by saying that the lack of finance will inevitably lead to several cash-strapped companies postponing large-scale capex projects, while cash-rich players may very well engage in a series of mergers and acquisitions at knock-down prices.
Konrad Holubek of Spanish group Interconnection Consulting continued this line of thought by discussing the trends in the European insulation industry. In western Europe, sales of insulation in 2008 were expected to reach Euro5.8bn (equivalent to 75Mm3 of insulation stock), with forecasts for 2009 and 2010 progressively getting weaker. However, according to Mr Holubek, 2011 should see a reversal, with the market picking up as the effects of the downturn are expected to change. Eastern Europe bucks this trend however; forecasts for both sales volumes and revenue are expected to rise steadily through to 2011.
In terms of product breakdown, in the western markets glass wool will lead the way through to 2011 and will account for almost 40% of market share, followed by EPS (22%) and rockwool (16%). However, in eastern Europe rockwool is dominant with almost 48% of market share, followed by EPS (29%) and glass wool (13%). In terms of the consumer sector, eastern Europe will see a non-residential construction rise of almost 68% through to 2011, while residential projects will result in a healthy 32.4% rise in insulation demand. The situation is the opposite in western Europe: non-residential demand will go up by 39%, while residential insulation demand (mainly in renovation work) will rise by almost 62%. Of course the forecast could change with the rapidly deteriorating economic situation.
The programme was continued from an architectural and engineering perspective by Ian Abley of Loughborough University. The main thrust of Mr Abley’s paper was for the need to move toward thinner, higher r-value insulation materials, in particular the use of insulating vacuum panels. According to Mr Abley, such systems not only provide superior insulation performance, they also, by virtue of their design, increase the available living space inside a home by reducing the interior thicknesses of walls. Further to this, Mr Abley described pioneering design work that is looking to develop thin ‘tuneable’ walls fitted with valves for the controlled ingress and egress of air and thermal energy. These breathable walls could, in theory, transform the way homes are built in the future. At the moment however, they are very much in the design and prototype stage of development.
Session 3, entitled ‘Insulation, handling and conveying,’ involved presentations from two leading quality control specialists – Thermo Fisher Scientific and Satimo. ThermoFisher was represented by Stefan Schöeneberger, who described his firm’s on-line gauging system, the X-ray Sensor. This sensor is designed to detect flaws in batches of mineral and glass wool. This accurate x-ray detection technique is non-invasive, can be performed in situ, and is highly sensitive toward a range of contaminants. Furthermore, data from the sensor is automatically sent to a PC for instant display and analysis.
Continuing on the theme of quality control, Satimo representative Per Noren gave an impressive paper on the Dentro LSX scanner system. This device uses microwaves as the diagnostic agent for the detection of flaws and defects in batches of mineral and glass wool. Like any good detection system, the Dentro is non-invasive and provides data in real-time. As a batch of insulation moves through the sensor, microwaves emitted on one face are detected by a sensor on the other side. Any defects – such as agglomerations of wet binder – are shown visually as dark spots on an otherwise uniform surface.
The fourth paper of the day was given by industry expert Terry Pavlopoulos of Construction Knowledge Ltd. Mr Pavlopoulos proposed the idea of a strategic industry-wide merger of insulation and plasterboard companies. Some companies do produce these two types of material as part of their product portfolios (Knauf and Ursa are two examples that immediately spring to mind), but there has not been (thus far) a comprehensive merger of these two products in an industry-wide sense. Mr Pavlopoulos produced a detailed analysis of the types of synergies – both financial and operational – that may, or may not, exist between these two industries. While no answers were given, several important questions were asked. Overall Mr Pavlopoulos’s paper was a thought-provoking and well-researchedpiece of work that may have special relevance in the years ahead.
After lunch, the next session of the programme was kicked off by Rinus Sjerps and Guillaume Artois of Albemarle, a French company that, among other things, produces insulation flame-retardants. The topics in this jointly presented paper included a useful reminder of how fires begin and propagate, followed by an explanation of how flame-retardants impede fires in a chemical and physical manner. The paper also compared the development of fire safety standards in Europe, the US and China, and concluded by looking at the impact of the EU’s REACH legislation on some of Albemarle’s main fire-retarding products.
Gala Dinner and conference awards
The gala dinner was held at the beautiful La Masia Can Portell, high up in the mountains surrounding the sprawling Barcelona suburbs. Delegates were treated to an authentic Catalan fiesta of fine food, wine and song. The Global Insulation Awards for 2008 were also bestowed during the course of the evening. Global Insulation Producer of 2008 was awarded to Danish firm Rockwool for its enduring work to promote its products from a sustainability and environmental perspective. The award for Global Insulation Equipment Supplier for 2008 was collected by Axel Manøe Jepsen on behalf of Seelen (also of Denmark – clearly a good night for that country!).
Day Two
Global Insulation was honoured to have Dr Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya chair the morning session of the second day. His first duty was to invite Jesica Ferrer of Rockwool Peninsular, the Spanish subsidiary of Rockwool, to the podium. Ms Ferrer described the acoustic properties of stone wool insulation. She began by describing the important distinction between noise insulation and sound conditioning (the former is the level of noise entering a room; the latter is related to the sound quality within a room). Ms Ferrer discussed the various sound insulation materials on the market, including a breakdown of the solutions offered by Rockwool Peninsular for applications ranging from flat roofs, walls, floors, partitions and ceilings.
Following Ms Ferrer was Kimberly Howard, vice president and general manager of Owens Corning Building Materials Europe. Ms Howard gave an interesting presentation on the theme of sustainable building design. According to Ms Howard, Owens Corning is working continuously with neighbourhoods and cities around the world to boost energy efficiencies by offering ‘tailor-made’ insulation solutions. This paper was not, however, a transparent sales pitch for her company; Ms Howard stressed time and again that the reward her company receives from increasing its business is one that the whole of the insulation industry can and should enjoy in the years ahead. In other words, the growth of the insulation pie benefits everyone in the industry.
Next onto the podium was an inspirational paper from conference stalwart Stephen Long, representing EUMEPS. Mr Long spoke with great authority on the role that insulation has in reducing energy demand and fossil fuels usage, as well as in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Conversations on the topic of reducing the use of fossil fuels tend to focus on the demand side of the equation, ie finding alternative sources of energy such as solar, wind, wave, tidal, hydrothermal, biofuels and nuclear power among others. However, all of these alternatives will take many years to become the dominant players in the world’s energy mix. What is needed, argues Mr Long, is for faster, demand-side solutions – such as insulation – to be adopted now, in order to give the longer-term supply-side solutions time to reach fruition. Mr Long’s presentation concluded with a rallying call to all insulation manufacturers to champion the vital role that properly insulated buildings bring to society.
Denis Yumaghuzin of TechnoNICOL, Russia, then gave a short but sweet outline of the range of rockwool-based insulation materials produced by his firm. Among these are classical thermal insulation products, fire-proof systems, and acoustic solutions.
The next presenter to take centre stage was Sylvain Berger of Saint-Gobain Isover who spoke about a new insulant developed specifically for marine applications. The so-called ‘Ultimate’ is a light-weight and fire-resistant material suitable for steel bulkheads, decking and rotating floors in commercial and passenger ships. As well as possessing excellent thermal properties, Ultimate is also endowed with very good acoustical characteristics. This aspect of Ultimate makes it an ‘obvious’ choice for sea-going vessels where noise, such as that coming from engine rooms, pumps and compressors, is commonplace.
Fresh from his chairing duties, Dr Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) then proceeded to inform the delegates of the long-term thermal resistance of closed-cell foam insulation. These foams are composed of a polymer matrix interspersed with closed pockets of air. This structure provides the material with excellent thermal and fire resistance, hydrophobicity, mechanical stability and resistance to solvents. However, over time the insulation efficiency of these materials changes, and the focus of Dr Phalguni’s research at the NRC involves assessing the aging characteristics of closed-cell foams, in particular what affects the diffusion of gases in the polymer matrix. Dr Phalguni’s work and that of his colleagues is ongoing but much progress has already been made. Watch out for further updates from future conferences!
The final paper before another splendid lunch was given by Daniel Schildbach of Wacker Chemie of Germany. Dr Schildbach described the problem of water-uptake in silicate-based insulation materials such as glass wool. These materials drastically lose out on performance on account of their increased thermal conductivity when wet. A solution is to coat them with a hydrophobic agent in order to repel water. Wacker Chemie has developed a range of silane-based agents to do this. These basically consist of bipolar silicone molecules; the polar end binds to the silicate fibres of the substrate being protected, while the organic, non-polar end is left free to repel moisture. This hydrophobic shield technique has worked well, and Wacker Chemie continues to expand and improve upon its product range.
Timothy Cappel then gave a brilliant speech on the topic of thermal coatings and corrosion control on behalf of US-based Superior Products International, Inc. Mr Cappel began his presentation with a useful reminder of the three primary physical pathways by which heat is transferred – convection, conduction and radiation. Radiative heat transfer is dominated by infrared energy (57% of the total), while visible and ultraviolet light (UV) account for 40% and 3% respectively of the total. Mr Cappell then pointed out that the traditional concept of radiation is that a layer of insulation prevents heat generated within a building envelope (or substrate surface) from escaping to the outside. In the process of doing this the insulation material itself becomes loaded with heat; this heat is allowed to re-enter the structure through conduction and convection until thermal equilibrium is attained. During the course of this moisture is absorbed and air is allowed to infiltrate. Furthermore, this heat remains in the structure after the sources of heat are removed. This traditional concept places a significant amount of work on the insulation material since the heat is merely shuttled backwards and forwards by convection and conduction.
Mr Cappell then described his ‘21st century’ concept of insulation: materials with extremely high solar reflectance (also known as high infrared emissivity) are applied on either the exterior or interior of a building and/or surface. In this way, infrared radiation, originating either from inside or outside of the surface layer is not absorbed – instead it is blocked and repelled by reflectance back from whence it originated. The ceramic coatings developed by Superior Products all work on this basic premise. The coatings are designed to bond directly to the surface of the substrate, which eliminates the problem of corrosion under insulation (CUI), which is commonly encountered in externally jacketed pipes and metal surfaces. CUI is caused by the ingress of moisture below the surface of the insulant. Superior Products’ thermal coatings prevent the ingress of moisture because the coatings bond chemically to the metal surface, thereby creating an air- and water-proof seal. These coatings are described as possessing increased longevity, are environmentally friendly, non-toxic and resistant to mould and fire.
The conference’s penultimate paper was delivered by Scott Gibson of Australian firm Air-Cell Innovations. Mr Gibson spoke about thermo-cellular reflective insulation materials; these are products that are described as a hybrid technology combining reflective air spaces within a flexible cellular structure. This composition enables thermo-cellular reflective insulation to resist all three modes of heat flow. The reflective surface blocks 97% of radiant heat, while air spaces below the surface reduce convection and conduction. Thermo-cellular reflective materials were first developed by NASA, but have since been used as building insulants since the mid 1980s. Air-Cell has had success in selling these materials around the Australasian and south Pacific regions, while it continues to promote them successfully in the Middle East. The audience were allowed to handle examples of these materials, which range from extruded bubble sheets, chemically and physically cross-linked forms as well as open-cell polyethylene foam laminates. Mr Gibson presented a selection of case studies that have incorporated these materials, ranging from commercial and residential wall, roof and under-floor applications.
The final presentation of the two-day programme focused on the seismic protection properties of EPS geofoams, delivered in style and enthusiasm by Prof George Athanasopoulos of the University of Patras, Greece. Prof Athanasopoulos spoke about the damage caused to retaining concrete walls by earthquakes. Prof Athanasopoulos’s research team have looked at the ability of EPS foam blocks to resist the pressures caused by seismic shock, and found that in some cases that EPS geofoams reduce the effect by as much as 50%. Crucially, Prof Athanasopoulos and his team have concluded that these foam blocks can be retrofitted into existing retaining wall structures.
Farewell party
The farewell party took place directly after the end of the programme and included the award of the best presentation prize, as judged by the conference delegates. A clear winner among a poll of delegates was Timothy Cappell of Superior Products, whose barnstorming presentation was a worthy winner.
Overall the 3rd Global Insulation Conference was a considerable success. An excellent mix of delegates helped to create a thought-provoking, interesting and vibrant conference. The next event in 2009 will certainly build on this achievement, and we have the great pleasure of announcing that the 4th Global Insulation Conference will take place on 12-13 October 2009 in the delightful city of Prague, the Czech Republic. Eastern Europe is experiencing a construction expansion, and Prague will be a gateway to this potentially lucrative market, enabling the insulation pie to grow further still. We look forward to meeting you all again next year, as well as welcoming new delegates to this flourishing forum. See you in 2009!
