Environmental Advantages of SIPs

The Actions We Take Today Effects The World Tomorrow

The environmental benefits of choosing structural insulated panels for residential and commercial construction are enormous. By buildings with SIP’s, you significantly lower your energy consumption needed to heat and cool your home. The reduction in energy consumption not only gives you the benefit of a lower energy bill, but also provides a benefit to the environment by reducing the negative impacts (greenhouse gasses and CFC’s) generated in the production of energy sources.

Taking care of the environment is everyone’s responsibility. Building with structural insulated panels provides environmental advantages in many areas:

• Drastically Reducing Energy Usage
• Manufactured using renewable resources
• Superior R-values
• Reduced jobsite waste
• Superior indoor air quality and temperature control
• Available tax credits and points toward building incentives (LEED, NAHB, GBG)

Structural insulated panels are one of the most environmentally responsible building materials available in construction. By building with SIP’s you help protect the environment by conserving natural resources, energy, and indoor air quality.

The Materials

TheExpanded Polystyrene (EPS) core used in Structural Insulated Panels is manufactured using a low-environmental impact process using heat and steam. EPS contains no chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) or Hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC’s). EPS is 100% recyclable and contains no formaldehyde.

The Oriented Strand Board (OSB) used in structural insulated panels is environmentally responsible. OSB is an engineered structural panel, designed for remarkable uniformity, versatility, and performance. OSB fiber is harvested from sustainable, fast growing timber sources, not old-growth forest.

The Effects on Your Personal Environment

Studies linking respiratory disease, allergies and other diseases to indoor air quality have spawned an array of less toxic products and improved indoor ventilation. Once complete our SIS panel homes are virtually airtight giving you precise control over the indoor air quality of your home. This helps eliminate allergens, humidity, dust, etc.

One of the best ways to think about the impact of your SIP home on the environment is its superior energy efficient design and construction. By reducing the demand for fossil fuel consumption (such as gas, oil and coal) you will greatly reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses during the years you heat and cool your home, resulting in a cleaner environment.

Superior Insulated Systems strives to be a good steward of the environment. Superior Insulated Systems provides their customers with an amazing key element to keep structures green. Superior Insulated Systems offers Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), derived from sustainable materials, with a high R-values, which helps prevent cool air leakage in the summer and warm air leakage in the winter. The company encourages builders to share in this commitment and to adhere to environmentally-friendly practices, by implementing the following suggestions in development whenever possible:

• When choosing a building site, Superior Insulated Systems would like to encourage homebuilders to avoid development of prime farmland, wetlands and endangered species habitats.
• When building, the structure should be situated to make best use of natural daylight to reduce lighting needs. Superior Insulated Systems Inc. highly professional Architectural department can help incorporate passive solar characteristics into the design. The building should take advantage of any existing breezes. Windows, skylights, light monitors, light shelves and other elements should be strategically used to bring daylight to the interior of the structure.
• The exterior walls, patios and other hard, flat surfaces should have shading elements, such as sunshades, canopies, vine-covered green screens and trees that are drought resistant, particularly on the southern and western facades (in the Northern hemisphere) and over windows and doors, to block hot summer sun. Uncovered, flat areas on the exterior can create heat islands.
• Roofing finishes should be a light-colored, heat reflecting, or a landscaped roof, to reduce heat absorption.
• Superior insulated Systems encourages builders to use non-toxic interior finishing materials and furnishings, like low- and zero-VOC (volatile organic compound) wall finishes and floor finishes. Wood-based features should come from rapidly renewable sources like bamboo. Wool carpeting is biodegradable and healthy. Certain recycled and salvaged materials should be used, such as tiles and countertops with considerable recycled content.
• Dual-glaze, low-E or double paned windows reduce heat gain in summer and heat loss during cold winter months. Windows and exterior doors should have Energy Star ratings, and their openings should be sealed tightly.
• With stand alone, solar powered lighting systems, no wiring or electrical contractor is needed. Energy-efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) and fluorescent lighting should be used wherever possible, which outlast halogen and incandescent lights. Efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning [HVAC] system, and solar water-heating systems should be implemented. Appliances should have Energy Star ratings.
• The structure should generate some of its own energy with technologies like photovoltaic systems that convert sunlight directly into electricity.

More and more utility companies are offering their customers the option to purchase electricity generated by rapidly renewable resources like solar power, wind turbines, geothermal systems and biomass to power buildings and homes, which helps to combat global climate change and dependence on oil.

Superior Insulated Systems suggests a water-conserving irrigation system and water-efficient kitchen and bathroom fixtures, rainwater collection and storage systems, and composting systems.

Natural ventilation (via building orientation, operable windows, fans, wind chimneys and other strategies) should bring plentiful fresh air inside the house. A split-system HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system should filter all incoming air and vent stale air outside. On a housing unit, the garage should not have any air handling equipment or return ducts, and it should have an exhaust fan.

Being a good steward of the environment includes having a sustainable lifestyle: reduce, reuse and recycle!

Some municipal governments are reducing fees or waiting periods associated with the approval process for projects that can demonstrate a commitment to sustainability. There are programs available that will assist projects that are still in the planning stages to gain the necessary approvals as expediently and cost-effectively as possible.

The benefits of going green are vast. Implementing green strategies into construction and green living practices result in lower operating costs and increased asset value, conservation of energy and water, reduced waste sent to landfills, better health and safety for occupants, and reduced harmful greenhouse gas emissions.