Sustainability 

Air/water-resistive barriers make clear contributions to sustainability. They are required by prescriptive compliance methods for USGBC’s LEED Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite 2 (Minimum Energy Performance), and are part of an increasing number of state building codes. Studies have shown that air barriers can reduce building energy consumption by up to 40%. In addition, air/water-resistive barriers protect buildings from mold and material decomposition due to moisture within wall systems.

While green rating systems like LEED offer a building design-focused approach to sustainability, products used to create sustainable buildings also have a role to play.

ENERSHIELD™ systems are designed to reduce resource consumption by matching material use with performance requirements. Where strength is needed, for example at sheathing joints and window rough openings, a special SHEATHING FABRIC saturated with ENERSHIELD creates a fabric-reinforced composite material with high strength and self-gauging thickness.

Areas that do not require high strength, for example ASTM C 1177 sheathing, can be effectively coated with ENERSHIELD™. By providing high performance at low coating thickness (10-mils wet film thickness for ENERSHIELD™-HP, 26-mils for ENERSHIELD™-I), ENERSHIELD™ products minimize the environmental burden associated with resource consumption.

Low coating thickness also enables improvements in packaging. ENERSHIELD™ products are supplied in reusable/recyclable 5-gallon plastic pails. Cleaning and potential disposal of used 55-gallon drums may no longer be required.

Fluid-applied systems like ENERSHIELD™ do not require siliconized release papers, reducing generation of construction waste.

To minimize emissions, ENERSHIELD™ products contain just 11 g/l of VOCs, well below levels typically found in air barrier materials as well as the maximum allowed by the EPA.

The overall result is an effective air/water-resistive barrier with improved sustainability.