In winter, when it's cold outside and we have to go out for that important errand, without thinking twice we put on our warmest coat and brave the bad weather. So why has no one ever thought of doing the same with their own home? Make her wear a coat... why not, even the red one, with a nice hood and a little flared... It's like reading a book by Gianni Rodari, but in truth the energy coat already exists and today we're talking about it because the last frontier was joined by an Italian company: Eni Versalis.
External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) used more abroad than in Italy, is a composite system in which the insulation (EPS) is fixed to the wall with an adhesive that guarantees thermal continuity between the insulation and the masonry, while the mechanical seal is further guaranteed by special dowels. The external finish, almost always made with a plaster that gives the wall a traditional look, is reinforced by a fiberglass mesh that "arms" the system, guaranteeing its impact resistance.
But why improve thermal insulation? Because it would mean reducing consumption in the bill and, more generally, reducing CO2 emissions into the environment. Today, when the world of construction also has the goal of creating zero-emission buildings by 2020, a new challenge has also come to involve insulating materials, from which much is obviously expected. The request is twofold: on the one hand we want to obtain systems capable of responding adequately to the requirements of reducing energy consumption, and on the other we ask these products to keep their thermal properties unchanged over time.
As we said, the new frontier is all Italian. In Europe, the most widespread solution for thermal insulation is expanded polystyrene (EPS), preferred over other solutions due to its economic and environmental sustainability. For many years Eni Versalis has been active in the production of EPS with Extir® brand products and research to make expanded polystyrene more efficient, limiting heat loss as much as possible, dates back to ten years ago. Already during the research phase, the element that most struck the researchers was the change in colour. The addition of a particular additive which reduces the transmission of heat, in fact, made the polystyrene grey. “It's as if we had inserted an aluminum sheet inside the polystyrene”. With this simple image, Gilberto Frigerio, head of the Extir® Galileo project, summarizes all the work done. For a moment, it was a bit like going back to grandma's old house, and seeing the cardboard behind the radiator that served to keep the room warmer. Perhaps this time too, looking to popular wisdom has been useful in making research take a great leap forward.
From the site Eniday.
