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Insulating against climate change

Insulation materials based on two key Shell Chemicals products – styrene and polyether polyols - are helping to deliver innovative solutions that contribute to lower carbon dioxide emissions.

The savings made by using these insulation materials far exceed the energy consumed in their production.

Woman adjusting central heating thermostat

Polyurethane foams significantly reduce the energy required to keep buildings warm or cool.

With buildings estimated to account for some 40% of energy use globally, the potential contribution of effective insulation to improved energy efficiency in our homes and offices - and hence to lower CO₂ emissions - is significant.

Shell Chemicals are leading suppliers of the raw materials used to make two of the most effective and versatile insulation materials available. The thermal efficiency of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam made from styrene, and of rigid polyurethane (PU) foam made from polyether polyols, provides architects, designers and builders with an increasing range of options to create sustainable buildings that help to reduce both energy costs and CO₂ emissions.

The savings made by using these insulation materials far exceed the energy consumed in their production, which for a typical house may be recovered within as little as one year. Thanks to the durability of these products, energy savings continue to be delivered throughout the life of the building.

The versatility of EPS and PU foams means they can be used in almost every part of a building – from foundations and walls, to floors and even the roof. Increasingly, they are combined with conventional building materials to create complete structural insulation solutions.

Rigid PU foam is one of the best insulation materials available. Its extremely low thermal conductivity provides high levels of insulation for the construction or renovation of buildings, significantly reducing the energy required to keep them warm or cool.

Its closed cell structure and encapsulated insulating gas provides unrivalled performance where the highest level of insulation is required, or where the thickness of insulation is a major consideration. Alternative materials need to be up to 60% thicker to achieve the same level of insulation.

For the same reason, most fridges and freezers produced in the world are also insulated with PU foam and it is key to meeting ever more stringent energy efficiency standards for these household appliances.

Expanded applications

A combination of versatility and thermal performance has made expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, produced by the polymerisation of styrene monomer, one of the most widely used forms of building insulation.

As well as having excellent thermal performance, EPS is light and easy to transport and can be cut, shaped and moulded into virtually any shape. It can be used as a loose cavity fill material in bead form or, more commonly, as moulded foam panels.

More recently, builders and architects have used the flexibility of EPS to develop innovative new insulation applications such as insulating concrete forming (ICF) systems, where hollow EPS blocks are filled with concrete, and advanced structural insulated panels (SIPs),

In SIPs, the EPS is sandwiched between sheets of timber, allowing complete buildings to be erected quickly, with limited equipment and without the need for skilled labour.