Insulation
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University of Maryland engineers have created a new insulating material capable of blocking at least 10 degrees more heat than styrofoam or silica aerogel. It’s also 30 times stronger than styrofoam, and appears to be much more environmentally friendly.
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Why bother adding a layer of insulation to a brick wall, if you can just build that wall using hollow bricks that are stuffed with insulation? That's the thinking behind bricks which incorporate materials such as perlite. Now, scientists have created the best-insulating brick yet, using aerogel.
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Although ceramics are known for being able to withstand high temperatures, they also have a reputation for being brittle. That's not the case, however, with a spongey new material made from ceramic nanofibers. It could find use in high-temperature insulation or water filtration.
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If you're a regular camper, you probably know what it's like to pitch a tent on a warm evening and wake up the next morning feeling like you're sleeping in an oven. Cold weather camping can be just as grim, too. Derek O'Sullivan reckons he's solved these issues with his Thermo Tent.
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A house made from straw didn't work out so well in the story of the Three Little Pigs, but maybe it's not such a bad idea after all. Sustainable building firm BaleHaus recently unveiled some new straw homes which promise an incredible 90 percent fuel bill reduction.
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Researchers in Spain have managed to turn waste material from orange trees into high-performance acoustic insulation. The new material is more environmentally friendly to produce and an improvement in terms of acoustic insulation compared to conventional laminated gypsum boards.
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Insulating your home may help the environment by lowering your energy usage, but unfortunately the petroleum-based foam that's typically used as insulation isn't all that eco-friendly itself. Researchers in Germany, however, have developed a greener alternative – it's foam made from wood.
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ScienceIn what could lead to new ultrathin insulation, researchers at the University of Namur in Belgium and the University of Hassan I in Morocco found that radiation plays a larger role than conduction in the insulation of polar animals such as penguins and polar bears than previously believed.
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Say you were the third generation of a sheep-farming family in the southwest of Scotland, and you intended to build a new farmhouse that made a statement about resource consumption. Well, you would, wouldn't you?
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Scientists at the University of Hertfordshire have developed what they say is the world’s first portable, real-time airborne asbestos detector.
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Washed up dead seaweed known as Neptune balls is being converted into building insulation.
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ScienceNew polymer aerogels from NASA Glenn Research Center are flexible and 500 times stronger than traditional aerogels.
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