News Grapevine Artical March 2008.
SIP PANELS…Sustainable and Energy Efficient Home Construction Today
Julian Mustoe, Director MG Coral Developments.
“SIP Panels, what are SIP Panels?” I hear you ask. Well, to use the industry parlance, they are the next generation construction system. That phrase will mean little to many of you. However, if you’re interested in building a home it’s worth getting to know about SIP Panels. Basically S.I.P. stands for Structural Insulated Panel, a hugely strong, energy efficient building system.
Energy efficiency is a subject very close to my heart. The science seems to be in order now. We live in a world where resources are finite, yet we use these resources as if they were infinite. Not only that, we use these resources without any thought of their impact on our world. We know that continued use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions lead to global warming and all its related ills, but apart from lip service, many of us continue live our lives as if nothing was happening. I want to try to change. Over the next few months I want to tell you about new ideas that may help us in our overall objective, a safe and sustainable world for our children and grand children. First on my list, because I am in the industry, is construction.
Houses have been constructed from wood for generations, so there is nothing new there. The difference with the SIP Panel is that it is wood, but with a huge amount of insulation built in. The European manufacturer for this is a company called Kingspan TEK. The Kingspan TEK SIP Panel system has been created to exceed all the latest European Building Regulations, whilst being much more energy efficient than standard construction, and they are guaranteed for 20 years!
So what exactly is a SIP Panel? At its most simple, it is two bits of 16mm sheeting with 12cm of polyurethane insulating rigid foam in the middle. This creates panels that are incredibly strong and energy efficient. They are called Structural panels because they are strong enough to be load bearing walls – the building is actually constructed like a big 3D jigsaw puzzle.
How do I know all this? I live in one, as well as building them for other people. Obviously the standard concrete build was suggested by all and sundry – but we needed something better, that didn’t have all the downsides of concrete. As well as the standard issue of cold and lack of insulation, there is the impact of the manufacture of cement itself to consider. The cement industry contributes about 5% to global CO2 emissions, making the cement industry an important sector for action on this issue. CO2 is emitted from the calcination process of limestone, from combustion of fuels in the kiln, as well as from the huge amounts of power that need to be generated for the process itself.
So what are the differences between SIPS and standard construction;
Speed. A SIP Panel home can be built in just a few weeks by specialised companies that know the system. The sole builders of the Kingspan TEK timber frame building System in the Paphos area are MG Coral Developments, whose people are qualified and registered through Kingspan themselves.
Energy Efficiency. A SIP Panel home is so well insulated that you will really feel the difference. In the winter, a concrete house is cold. Even with central heating you will warm the house, but the heat will not remain for long because there is no insulation. After two winters, I can confidently and truthfully tell you that we have NO heating in our SIP Panel home, and yet the temperature has remained pretty constant throughout the winter.
Sustainable. A SIP Panel home, as well as being highly energy efficient, creates low wastage in construction, because all the panels are cut to size and shape before they even get to the site. Plus all the components come from one source, reducing transport and so reducing your home’s impact on the environment. Concrete however is the single largest contributor to global warming, producing over 5% of total global carbon emissions, so alternative building methods are very important.
Now the all important question of cost. How does a SIP Panel home compare from a cost perspective? The good news is that it is cheaper to build than standard construction. Firstly, being quicker, it is less labour intensive. Secondly it is simply less expensive to have SIP Panels than to pour a concrete frame, lay bricks and throw more concrete at it.
There are many important factors to take into consideration when building your home. The environment is now moving rapidly up that list, and will soon become a matter of legislation as new EU Building Regulations / Standards come into effect over the next few years. It pays great dividends to be ahead of the game.
Cheaper and quicker to build, energy efficient and sustainable. In my opinion there isn’t a better way to build a home in Cyprus than SIP Panel homes. I should know, I live in one.