Spray Foam Insulation, An Army Favorite

Added: (Tue Feb 07 2012)

Pressbox (Press Release) - It's official, the U.S. Army is using spray foam insulation to keep heat outside their tents. This comes as an effective solution on the excessive heat of U.S. Army tents located in Iraqi deserts. Temperatures in this Middle-East country could reach to a scorching 130 degrees Fahrenheit, so much for white soldiers to bear. In fact, even airconditioning is not enough to keep the temperature down. Temperature is still at at high of 100 degrees even with this facility on.

Spray Foam Insulation is the Answer

The U.S. Army has eventually found a solution. To trim the temperature to a refreshingly cool level and at the same cut energy cost and improve the efficiency, the U.S. Army started to coat 900 airconditioned tents with spray foam insulation. This is a specialized polyurethane foam that works to shield the soldier's housing against solar rays. At the same time, the spray foam insulation works towards sealing the tents thus keeping the cool air from escaping.

How Spray Foam Insulation Works?

Fifty-gallon drums were used to spray the foam on the tents. In less than 20 minutes, the foam hardened and did its job of efficiency that cut energy consumption by up to 33 percent while keeping the temperature controlled to a desirable level, claims manufacturers.

Joseph Lstiburek, a building scientist and expert in indoor air quality, mentioned that spray foam insulation is effective for its speed and flexibility in retrofitting tents, homes, and commercial spaces, which guarantees higher energy efficiency.

"For the Army, there is no other solution even close to this given speed, flexibility, mobility," Lstiburek revealed in an interview with Discovery News. "You don't have to ship lots of big pieces of stuff around. Think about it: a big tent insulated on the exterior that acts as a combined water control layer, air control layer, vapor control layer and thermal control layer that is also structural."
Honeywell, which is tasked to do the $12.5 million project, trained 50 locals to do the work. After the project, they had donated the technology to the Iraqis so they can apply effective insulation process to their homes.

The project had fallen in line with the Army's 2009-2015 strategic plan, which aimed to boost facility efficiency and general quality of life for soldiers, as well as civilians.

Aside from the foam project, the U.S. military went a step further in 2009. They conducted experiments with hybrid vehicle engines called algae-based jet fuel. The study aimed to boost fuel cells and the use of both garbage-based biofuel refineries and solar energy generators at forward operating bases.
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