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Rockwool Provides Sustainable Insulation for ruralZED™
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Rockwool’s highly insulating, sustainable and non-combustible Flexi insulation has been used in the groundbreaking ruralZED™ house, which was launched at this year’s Ecobuild and claims to be the most sustainable house design ever produced.
Designed by ZEDfactory Ltd, the ruralZED™ house has emerged from a consortium, which includes Rockwool, Charcon, Rationel, Mi-space, Hansgrohe.
The super-insulated house is constructed using 200x200mm glulam timber post-and-beam and is insulated using Rockwool’s Flexi stone wool insulation. The flexible design of the ruralZED™ house has been devised to allow various elevations and roofing configurations, and the units can be grouped to meet the requirements of different master plans.
Bill Dunster, architect at ZEDfactory Ltd, comments: “The ruralZED™ house design goes far beyond the requirements of level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. It combines versatile design, unrivalled sustainability, innovative energy efficiency measures and, importantly, affordability.”
The basic elements of the ruralZED™ house cost just £116,000 and a typical property can be constructed in a month, although the prototype unveiled at Ecobuild was built in just three days.
Dunster continues: “All the materials used in ruralZED™ house design have been thoroughly tested and carefully selected for their buildability, advanced, multi-functional performance and sustainability credentials. For example, Rockwool insulation not only provides excellent thermal insulation, it is also extremely sustainable, completely non-combustible and provides very high levels of acoustic protection.”
Rockwool Flexi is a stone wool product, which features a natural 'spring' to ensure a flush fit that eliminates air gaps, even with out-of-true walls. The product flexes with the building structure in order to maintain this tight fit despite shrinkage throughout the life of the building.
In addition, Flexi moulds round any surface irregularities like bolts and fastenings, unlike rigid foam insulations, maximising airtightness levels and the thermal performance of the building structure.
Rockwool Flexi offers a superior 4 in 1 solution: In addition to its excellent thermal properties, Flexi is classed as non-combustible and has excellent acoustic properties and sustainability credentials.
Rockwool stone wool insulation is one of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient construction products available and meets the highest standards of ‘cradle to cradle’ sustainability, energy conservation and recyclability. It is manufactured using igneous volcanic rock, an abundantly-available resource. Over the lifetime of the building, the energy saved could be 100s of times more than that consumed to manufacture the Rockwool insulation.
Rockwool insulation has a low embodied energy of 16.8MJ/Kg and has zero Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP) and Global Warming Potential (GWP). Its excellent thermal properties cut energy consumption, reducing the need to burn fossil fuels and therefore helping to minimise harmful emissions of greenhouse gases.
