The product utilises used polyethylene bags to form a 1cm thick insulating pad that is made in small custom sizes that together can be placed on walls as an add on insulation in the interior wall of rooms.

The aim is to reduce energy usage in households by reducing heat flow into homes through conduction through walls. The product utilises plastic bags as the primary component for insulation. The choice is driven due to pollution and nefarious impact on the environment by use and improper disposal of low and high density polyethylene bags.

There is a significant amount of use of electricity in Southeast Asia for air conditioning. For this study the example of India is used. A huge amount of cooling lost through the thin walls which are made from fire burnt clay bricks and concrete which is not a good thermal insulator. Fire burnt clay bricks are the primary material used in construction of houses. The product aims at reducing electricity usage by the current households which cannot be reconstructed using better insulating materials or processes.

Peak Temperature in India in 2016- 51 °C

Number of houses made from fire burnt clay bricks = 849 Million

Number of these houses with Air Conditioning = 3% (25 Million)

Using a 3D steady state thermal analysis on ANSYS as well as analytical methods – power loss through walls is about 450 W (per wall exposed to outside temp of 40) which can be reduced to 330W using just a single 1cm layer of the product on only one wall. Through multiple studies average heat power reduction was estimated as 300W for varying outside temperatures while inside the room 24 degrees is to be maintained.

Energy savings-

2.4 KWH per household per day (assuming 8 hours of AC usage) with single AC.

This equates to about 40% of daily usage of an average Indian.

Throughout the country, this transforms to 60million units per day of electricity usage.

The product’s design includes 5 layers each 20 micron in thickness separated from each other by a thin plastic grid to introduce an air gap between layers for increased insulation. Plastic bags are torn and joined at the ends using heat to constitute a single layer. The covering plastic on the product can be customised by printing.

The product will lead to multiple benefits such as improvement in health of those affected by heat wave due to climate change. The primary target remains reduction in power usage which will reduce reliance on fossil fuels among other non-renewable sources used for electricity generation. Furthermore reducing environmental damage from plastic bag pollution is another added advantage of use of this product.