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Syracuse University BEST Lab Opens Doors for Air-Barrier Testing
Thursday, April 16, 2009
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| Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance |
Press Release |
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| Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance Announces Syracuse University BEST Lab Opens Doors for Air-Barrier Testing
SYRACUSE, NY - 08 April 2009 - After several years of funding solicitation, planning, preparation, relationship development, and construction, the Syracuse University's Building Envelope Systems Test (BEST) Laboratory opened its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 08 April 2009.
The Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA) has supported this project since the proposal phase with funding, labor, materials, industry expertise and even SPF to insulate the overall building. "When performing tests as sensitive and critical as the ones going on inside this building, it certainly makes sense that the facility would choose SPF to insulate all of the building so that the interior conditioned environment can be as controlled as possible," stated SPFA Technical Director Dr. Richard Duncan. |
| Collaboration
As noted in many press reports, the opening-day was somewhat typical for Syracuse with blustery winds and snow-flurries all day long. But that did not prevent a great turnout for the opening, and allowed the speakers to demonstrate their hardiness by engaging the audience in an outdoor tented press event. The list of speakers included Congressman Dan Maffei, Marc LaFrance, Technology Development Manager, US Department of Energy/Office of Building Technology, Laverne Dalgleish, ABAA, Andre Dejarlais, ORNL, Ed Bogucz, Executive Director, SyracuseCoE, Peter Douglas, Program Director for Energy Efficient Research, NYSERDA, and many others.
Following the press event and ribbon-cutting, speakers and attendees were welcomed into the test facility to examine the various wall designs, technologies and testing apparatus that will be used in the experiments.
The test building itself has many different types of insulation/air barrier technologies participating in the testing, with several of the wall sections containing low density SPF, medium density SPF, or a combination of SPF with other products. "This is truly a fantastic example of multiple industry collaboration on a critically important topic, all conducted under the umbrella of ABAA, Oak Ridge National Labs and the Department of Energy. It also could not have been accomplished without the strong support of SU, its exceptional staff and students, and NYSERDA," said Kurt Riesenberg, Executive Director of SPFA who was in attendance for the event. "There are many products that can perform as either insulation or an air-barrier, but not many have both a high R-Value as well as air-barrier or air-impermeability performance rolled into one great product the way SPF does," Mr. Riesenberg continued. "25- 35% of a building's energy is wasted through air-leakage, so I am very enthhusiastic about this project and expect great results that will provide hard data highlighting the unique premium performance of SPF in a head-to-head contest. SPF competes with any product on straight R-Value, but the industry has always been challenged to consistently demonstrate how phenominal the product is when looked at from a combined R-Value+air seal perspective which represents a superior total system performance. This project is one more step toward our ability to do just that."
Once the test phase of the facility is complete in approximately 3 years, the Syracuse Center of Excellence (CoE) will take over management of the BEST lab and conduct future research in the facility. The Syracuse CoE will be an industry-university collaborative organization that creates environmental and energy innovations for a sustainable future. Following the event at the BEST lab, a second tour took place inside the CoE building, still under construction. During the tour it was noted that this building is the site of a large application of SPF - witnessed externally on the underside of overhangs, as well as internally applied between metal studs in the building's envelope.
SPFA, with funding from its membership, has supported the ABAA/DoE/ORNL SU BEST lab project and looks forward to continuing its involvement over the duration. For more information on the project, clickable resources are available below. SPFA would also like to acknowledge the important role that Henderson-Johnson Company and R-Factor SprayFoam Insulation played in building of the SPFA test panels and application of the test SPF.
Syracuse Post-Standard News
Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA)
Syracuse Center of Excellence (CoE) More information will be available on the SPFA webpage on this project at www.sprayfoam.org. |
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PICTURES
 Attendees
 NY Congressman Maffei
 US DoE, Marc LaFrance
 Rep. Maffei and ABAA's Laverne Dalgleish discuss the project in front of an SPF wall specimin
 Syracuse NY, Syracuse University Center of Excellence (CoE) under construction - Team visit
 SU CoE full of SPF top to bottom |
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| About Spray Polyurethane Foam AllianceServing the entire SPF value-chain of contractors, material, equipment and coatings suppliers. It is our job to remove obstacles and present opportunities for growth, increased safety and quality in the industry. |
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