How about THIS instead of using more and more energy?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory chemists have developed a new flexible “aerogel” — stuff so light it has been called “solid smoke” — described as the world’s lightest solid material and best solid insulating material.

“The new aerogels are up to 500 times stronger than their silica counterparts,” said Mary Ann B. Meador at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society.

“A thick piece actually can support the weight of a car. And they can be produced in a thin form, a film so flexible that a wide variety of commercial and industrial uses are possible.”

Flexible aerogels, for instance, could be used in a new genre of super-insulating clothing that keeps people warm in the cold with less bulk than traditional “thermal” garments. Tents and sleeping bags would have the same advantages.Home refrigerator and freezer walls insulated with other forms of the material would shrink in thickness, increasing storage capacity.

Meador said that the aerogel is 5–10 times more efficient than existing insulation, with a quarter-inch-thick sheet providing as much insulation as 3 inches of fiberglass. And there could be multiple applications in thin-but-high-efficiency insulation for buildings, pipes, water heater tanks and other devices.

NASA envisions one use in an advanced re-entry system for spacecraft returning to Earth from the International Space Station, and perhaps other missions. Re-entry vehicles need a heat shield that keeps them from burning up due to frictional heating from Earth’s atmosphere. Those shields can be bulky and heavy. So NASA is exploring use of a heat shield made from flexible aerogel that inflates like a balloon when spacecraft enter the atmosphere. Meador said the material also could be used to insulate spacesuits.

Scientists produced the stronger new aerogels in two ways. One involved making changes in the innermost architecture of traditional silica aerogels. They used a polymer, a plastic-like material, to reinforce the networks of silica that extend throughout an aerogel’s structure. Another involved making aerogels from polyimide, an incredibly strong and heat-resistant polymer, or plastic-like material, and then inserting brace-like cross-links to add further strength to the structure.

Less greenhouse emissions. More comfort. Less money and energy spent on petroleum. Fewer bird killing windmills, or 3 eyes and six legged nuclear radiation? Mandate double pane insulated safety glass in all RVs. If a QUARTER INCH of this stuff can do all this, what would one inch do? Give companies who manufacture it MASSIVE TAX BREAKS. Our congress and environmentalists act like they have double-digit Intelligence quotients. You have to be smarter than the problem, so maybe they're overwhelmed. How many hundreds of pounds of conventional insulation are contained in a 37' RV?

[3_tons]

frankwp wrote:
This news is ancient history. Aerogel has been around for almost a century.

It’s good to be so well informed, first time I ever heard of it down here at the 45 parallel - lol!!

[frankwp]

This news is ancient history. Aerogel has been around for almost a century.

[3_tons]

A few pellets of this will make as much coffee as anyone can drink, while enjoying many decades free of energy deficits!!...Second only to LiFePo4’s !!

https://rps.nasa.gov/system/downloadable_items/26_APP_RPS_Pu-238_FS_12-10-12.pdf#:~:text=•%20Plutoni....

3 tons





EDIT: Converted the hella long URL into a link so it wouldn't break the page anymore.

[pianotuna]

Mex,

If you want the coffee to last twice as long, consumption has to be reduced by 50% LOL

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Clothing, bedding, schools, refrigerators, coolers. Take a look at the cost of CRUA camping gear. I have a non vacuum insulated Thermos brand coffee mug which I wish held coffee twice as long.
If I was a liberal I'd mention children and pets in cars. But the scope is endless. Being a point of issue is OK but at the present time we have another crisis to fry.

[profdant139]

Someday, home insulation will drive the market for aerogels -- if there is a way to retrofit existing homes with blow-in aerogel (inside the walls and between the studs), that is a multi-billion dollar market.

The RV market will be a fraction of the bigger market.

[ppine]

The US has always had cheap energy. Some day we will insulate everything much better. Earth sheltered homes will be common place. we will be able to heat them with the occupants and a few light bulbs. A heat pump will be used to push air through underground chambers.

[Bill_Satellite]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I noticed 2nd graders have the same issues. Curious.

The difference is that 2nd graders are given information they can use.

[Bert_the_Welder]

Have you seen the junk construction quality of most RV's???? And you think they are gonna adopt something you can't even see to make them "better"?
I hate to tell ya Mex, but all is lost.

[rlw999]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

Take an RV in hot weather, proper use of this insulator would result in a NINETY PERCENT reduction in energy consumed. How would you like to use 10 gallons of LPG and comfortably pass 2 weeks at -40F ??

The only issue is THERE's NO MONEY IN IT. Who wants to invest in a zero-sum gain industry?

You're right that there's no money in it but not because of lack of government involvement.

A 10X better insulator doesn't give you a 10X reduction in heat loss since there's a lot more to insulating an RV than the insulation itself -- a lot of heat is lost through windows, air leaks, vents, etc. RV's *could* be much better insulated than they are with dual paned windows, insulated vent covers, fully sealed and insulated underbodies, etc.

All of this is possible today, but few want to pay thousands of dollars to save $50 in propane each season for the few times they actually use significant gas for heating.

For sure there are those that would pay a premium for a hyper insulated RV, but they don't need high tech aerogel to get it.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Like what powered Philipe Cousteau's Halcyon?

[free_radical]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

Less greenhouse emissions. More comfort. Less money and energy spent on petroleum. Fewer bird killing windmills, or 3 eyes and six legged nuclear radiation? Mandate double pane insulated safety glass in all RVs. If a QUARTER INCH of this stuff can do all this, what would one inch do? Give companies who manufacture it MASSIVE TAX BREAKS. Our congress and environmentalists act like they have double-digit Intelligence quotients. You have to be smarter than the problem, so maybe they're overwhelmed. How many hundreds of pounds of conventional insulation are contained in a 37' RV?

Vertical wind generators dont kill birds,why not build those?

https://windside.com/

[_1Flyboy]

....I hope I’m around when this is readily available....

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I noticed 2nd graders have the same issues. Curious.