Energystore is the UK and Ireland's largest manufacturer of EPS bead insulation products, which it produces in five locations, including Clydebank.
In recent years, sustainability and raising awareness of the environmental impact of construction have increasingly become a key part of Energystore's focus. There are several aspects to their focus on sustainability: deliver products with high in-life performance; research and development to make our products as versatile as possible without adding extra manufacturing steps; and increasingly, providing consultancy services to help clients design and build in more environmentally friendly ways.
There is a widely recognised performance gap in buildings between their design and in-life performance of c25%. This means that we tend to use 25% more energy when operating our buildings than we should. When using Energystore's cwi product, Energystore Superbead, clients receive an installation from experienced, specialist technicians. By using insulation specialists, projects are more likely to achieve high in-life performance of the chosen cwi product.
Energystore insists on training all technicians that use its product. Once they have passed its training processes, they are allowed to use its products. Once trained, the installation company can only buy products directly from it, ensuring Energystore can control usage and logistics.
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Energystore invests in its products with extensive research and development projects to find new ways to use its products, making them as versatile as possible. This led to Energystore Superbead being approved for use in new build timber frame properties and, more recently, for use in tenement buildings.
In response to Scotland's ambitious target to improve thermal efficiency in social housing, Energystore set out to find a solution. A research project, carried out in collaboration with CSIC and Napier University, was launched to find a way to insulate tenement buildings which make up around 28% of urban housing in Scotland. After a successful project, Energystore Superbead was given KIWA accreditation as the first injected insulation solution for tenements. The superbead solution before and after calculated U-values showed a significant improvement, typically improving EPC scores by two to seven points, depending on wall thickness/make-up. It also was less disruptive with a quicker install, no need to redecorate and no compromise to the existing living space.
Independent Life Cycle Assessment
After implementing a series of environmental improvements, Energystore worked with an independent environmental consultancy, Sustainable Homes to produce a life cycle assessment of the environmental impact of using Energystore Superbead. Sustainable Home's study looked at all the operations of our suppliers, our manufacturing facilities, logistics and install customers to quantify the CO2 impact of using Energystore Superbead in as much detail as possible. The output of the study identified a five-month environmental payback when using Energystore Superbead, which means that, after five months of installation, the CO2 save outweighed all of the CO2 emissions associated with manufacturing and installing the product. Sustainable Homes found that "superbead had the lowest Global Warming Potential per equivalent unit of insulation of any insulation product available in the UK. The product will last for the life of the building and has a carbon payback of only five months".
Energystore has recently launched consultancy services for its clients to assist with designing and maintaining thermally efficiency and environmentally friendly buildings. The services it offers include thermal imagery, in-situ u-value measurement, detailed insulation surveying, full SAP compliance and thermal bridging analysis (Ψ-values).
(MH/JG)
