Jeans for insulation

Ford is recycling clothes for the acoustical insulation of its cars. Apparently for 1 car you need 2 recycled jeans. Considering the amount of cars produced by Ford, the impact of this recycling can be substantial.

Insulating render based on aerogels

The Swiss Research Center EMPA developed a highly insulating render based on aerogels that can be used for renovation of buildings.

Architectural membrane with aerogel

Birdair, a company specialized in tensile architecture, developed an insulated translucent membrane roofing system (Tensotherm) with a material based on aerogel to be used in architectural membranes. The aerogel is applied between two layers of glass fibers/PTFE. The material is very light and can be used as thermal and acoustical insulation. One of the advantages is also that it is translucent and therefore can reduce the energy consumption for artifical lighting.