Living Green

Go Green Solutions lays out advantage of radiant barriers

Radiant barriers have been an option for almost 30 years for home and business owners looking for creative ways to clamp down on energy costs. Now that utility bills are climbing and "going green" is popular, the reflective aluminum sheets are beginning to get an even more serious look.

Go Green Solutions, founded by Brian Brisendine in Yadkin County, promotes radiant barriers as the center piece of its 3-year-old business. Sales have been concentrated primarily in western North Carolina, but East Carolina University junior David Doub has expanded the territory.

Doub, a native of East Bend, connected with Go Green Solutions while trying to nail down an intern opportunity and now is serving as sales and marketing manager while pursuing degrees in business and communications.

"The goal with all of this is to reduce energy consumption," Doub said. "This is the easiest way to do it, and that's why we've pushed it. It's the easiest to get, the easiest to install and the easiest to see results."

Go Green's primary product is the NASA-inspired attic radiant barrier, which works by reducing heat transfer by thermal radiation. The tarp-type material with a layer of aluminum foil laminated on both sides creates a double-sided radiant barrier and is installed inside an attic "This is a simple material," Doub said.

Doub said Go Green's industrial-grade foil blocks 97 percent of radiant heat. The Department of Energy classifies a radiant barrier as a product with a low emittance of 10 percent or less and a high reflectance of 90 percent or more.

Numerous field tests on attic sections and full-size homes have shown - depending on the amount of existing conventional insulation and other factors - that radiant barriers are effective in reducing utility bills. Most of the tests have been performed in warm climates, including trials by the Florida Solar Energy Center at Cape Canaveral, the Mineral Insulation Manufacturers Association, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The conclusions are that, in attics with R-19 insulation, radiant barriers can reduce summer ceiling heat gains from 16 percent to 42 percent. That would translate to a 2 percent to 10 percent reduction in the cooling portion of summer utility bills, according to the studies. Under some conditions, savings could be as large as 17 percent, the studies say.

Doub said savings could reach as high as 35 percent, depending on a home's size.

"It's the best bang for your buck as far as insulation goes," he said. "It really is an investment. The reason people don't buy it in the first place is because it wasn't introduced to them, especially in this part of the country.

"People don't realize there's a much better product out there to do what it's doing - insulating, keeping heat out or keeping it in. This stuff works with what you already have. You don't have to rip it out. It works in concert with what you already have."

Go Green also offers a four-layer insulating roof coating, an eco-friendly alternative to roof replacement. Additional product lines include solar and wind power alternatives, water conservation, energy-saving window treatments, insulating paints, and a fuel mileage enhancement.

The thermal-cool roof insulating system consists of a primer sealer coat, a heavy fibered insulating coating, a liquid waterproofing insulated coating, and a ceramic insulating gloss.

Tests show that the coating reduces wall and roof temperatures from 50-95 degrees, helping keep homes cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The ceramic product was developed by NASA to re-radiate heat which keeps the shuttle cool during re-entry. It comes with a 50-year guarantee from the manufacturer if a top coat is applied every seven years.

For now, Go Green's market is individual home and business owners. Doub said he and Brisendine eventually would like to partner with contractors and builders.

"Cold calls are not fun and they don't really work," Doub said. "My market is pretty much people I knew, friends of the family, friends of mine who had a home who would actually be able to utilize this material. ... I only had maybe a few hot leads of people who actually contacted us through our ads in the newspaper.

"We've sold this to houses in the western part of the state. We're using those as testimonials. ... Even if you don't really care about the environment and you just care about yourself, which is fine, then this is the product for you."