R-60 per inch - New Insulation

[peakbagger]

I saw this on the web today. It will be game changer if its affordable.

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/appliances-hvac-devices/vacuum-insulation/panel.aspx

 

[woodsmaster]

WOW ! I'll take some please.

 

[btuser]

Probably couldn't put a nail though it.

 

[Reggie Dunlap]

Looks great for fridges and other industrial uses. The problem with insulating houses is usually air infiltration, not R value. That's the beauty of spray foam, and to a lesser extent blown-in cellulose.

In my walls I'd rather have 1 inch of airtight spray foam at R 6 than 6 inches of drafty fiberglass at R 19.

 

[peakbagger]

I was actually thinking aobut its uses for thermal storage tanks.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It might be huge for poured foundations also. There would be very little heat lost to the ground.

Matt

 

[begreen]

This should make a huge difference for refrigeration.

 

[midwestcoast]

Agree, big for refrigeration & other appliances where high R-value per inch is worth the investment. Probably a very long way off as a building material (both $ and durability-wise)
I've also read a few descriptions of vacuum insulated window glass under development. They use tiny "columns" btwn the panes to keep them seperated under vacuum. Still problems to work out especially with mantaining a vacuum btwn 2 panes, each under different thermal conditions... but those would also be a huge improvement over current standard ~R-3 for windows.

 

[henkmeuzelaar]

This should make a huge difference for refrigeration.

Yeah, it does. VIP panels of various types and constructions have been around for about 15 years or so and are very popular among blue water cruisers who are always trying to reduce their power consumption underway.

The cost has so far been prohibitive, though. A 2 cuft VIP box typically did cost around US $ 2,000 (not including the compressor and heat exchanger). At any rate, we never were able to afford that type of refrigeration on our own boat.

Although the VIP cost may well have started to come down a bit the last few years (we sold our sailboat in Australia 2 years ago and have not stayed up to date as we switched our attention to house building) the construction method described by Panasonic seems to have the potential of bringing the cost down to earth a little further, let's say to $ 1 per square inch, instead of $ 1.50.....

Hope I'm wrong, of course, but don't hold your breath for any large-scale residential applications; at least not until Panasonic gets a run for its money from fresh competition.

Henk

 

[midwestcoast]

PyMS did you cruise to Australia? How long were you out & where to? I'm not even a sailor , but I've cruised around most of the world in my own mind. One day...

 

[henkmeuzelaar]

PyMS did you cruise to Australia? How long were you out & where to? I'm not even a sailor , but I've cruised around most of the world in my own mind. One day...

Hi Midwestcoast.

Thank you for your interest. I don't know how far off topic we are allowed to go, but let me try to give you enough information so you can pursue any further cruising stories, if you are so inclined.

First of all, I am attaching a 2-page, illustrated summary of our sailing & cruising adventures between 1991 and 2008. Warning: this is a rather "sugarcoated" version since it was solicited by Hunter Marine, the manufacturer of our 43 ft staysail sloop "Rivendel II". By 2008 Rivendel II appeared to have become one of the Hunter sailing vessels with the most offshore mileage (~ 40,000 NM) under her keel and we were constantly getting requests for some type of introduction from sailors interested in seeing what they might perhaps be able to do with their own Hunters, a more affordable category of lake & coastal cruisers, 99 % of which will probably never go offshore.

Altogether we sailed to Australia twice; once in 1998 and again in 2008. In between we mostly pursued a medical assistance project to some of the most remote island villages in the Vanuatu archipelago. We also sailed to the Sea of Cortez (2x), Hawaii (2x), Tuvalu (1x) and Fiji (2x).

Here are some additional links to explore, if you are interested:

www.hunterowners.com (search the archives for "Rivendel" and/or "meuzelaar")

www.project-marc.org (the Vanuatu project; right now none of the many video hyperlinks on that site works as I am supposed to be moving them to YouTube)
www.meuzelaar.org (our sorely neglected family website which should give access to some of the sailing and Vanuatu videos)

www.google.com (just use any combination of search terms including "meuzelaar", "Rivendel" and/or "Vanuatu")


Have fun!

Henk

 

[midwestcoast]

Awesome, thanks! I'll read up on your adventures.
And yes sorry for pirating the thread (pun intended), but in my book it's allowed when the story is that interesting.