NanoAir uses a proprietary blend of “beyond nano” ingredients that might just change people’s perceptions of insulation.

by Herb Chertnil

April 1, 2014

NanoAir is impressing green materials experts with its light weight, high insulating value, and low toxicity.

Photo: Lard Anemone

Air is a poor conductor of heat, so when trapped in various materials, such as foam, it provides insulation that few other materials can match—until now. The company Emperor Nanotechnolgies, Llllc, has come out with a new insulation additive, NanoAir, that promises to make air “finally work for us’ and make the performance of other high-tech additives such as Aerogel look “like wet cellulose,’ according to Emperor Nanotechnolgies’ founder and president Hugh Jahlyer. “NanoAir is revolutionary,’ he explained. “It actually goes beyond nano and incorporates nitrogen, oxygen, and proprietary trace ingredients at the molecular scale to reduce the flow of energy from hot to cold surfaces.”

To avoid voiding the warranty, NanoAir has to be applied by NanoAir-trained professionals using specialized equipment, such as NanoAir’s XP 9000 sprayer (shown here), but clean up is fast and easy using NanoAir’s “Oscillator” enclosed rotating blade system.

Photo: Lard Anemone

Though still in the development phase, first-party tests of NanoAir look promising. “We’ve added NanoAir to some plastics and increased their R-value by over 5,000%,” said Jahlyer. As an added benefit, NanoAir contains no formaldehyde, pentane, VOCs, HAPs, CFCs, HCFCs, HFOs, DMMP, HBCD, BADP, TDCPP, GMOs, sugar, or trans fats. And NanoAir has zero global warming potential or ozone depletion potential. Jahyler insists it behaves just like air in the atmosphere and that, to prove its low toxicity, Emperor Nanotechnologies plans on participating in Pharos, Declare, and other materials databases. “We are very interested in product transparency,” exclaimed Jahlyer. “In fact, I think we are the most transparent material currently available this side of the stratosphere.”

NanoAir will be sold at a premium when it becomes available in the third quarter of 2014, comparable in cost to new HFO blowing agents, but “everyone we’ve shown this product to so far believes it will be well worth it,” according to Jahlyer.

“You’ve got LEED” is the welcoming motto of the new LEED Online (LOL) interface, which has recently been optimized for more World Wide Web browsers, including Netscape Navigator.

“This is an exciting step forward in LEED project documentation to enhance the rollout of LEED v4,” Sarah Alexander, director of LEED certification for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) told EBN. “What could I compare it to?” she mused aloud. “The first time I heard Cher’s ‘Believe’? Or the 100th time? Either way, Booyah!”

New browser options plus offline solutions

Alexander noted that searches for information within LEED Online would be powered by the user’s choice of search engine— Yahoo!, AltaVista, Lycos, or Ask Jeeves. (In testing the search interface, EBN found the banner ads were distracting, the search results completely irrelevant, and the pop-up ads unrelenting, but we did find some great deals on Pets.com.)

There are solutions for offline work, said Alexander. Teams can order a CD-ROM of their forms for a low fee of $1,999. “From there, you can print it out, fill in the forms, and either send us a fax or three-hole punch it and mail it in.”

Fedrizzi looks ahead

Not so fast, Rick Fedrizzi, founding chairman of USGBC, wrote to EBN in an e-mail. “The new platform fulfills of our vision of a ‘paperless’ LEED experience.” Fedrizzi predicted that, in the future, bronze LEED plaques would be replaced by animated digital images, known as “gifs,” displayed in lobby computer kiosks. He added, “Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.”

Alexander also touted the improved customer service backing LEED Online, which is hosted on Geocities, a platform Alexander said she chose after seeing “some really cool Web pages there about roller-blading.” Project teams can contact us anytime for questions, she said. “In fact, someone’s paging me now,” she added, explaining that she was offline because her office didn’t yet have a second phone line for the modem. “Can we continue this conversation on the listserv?”