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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 25 JA N UA R Y 2 7 , 2 0 2 0 F O C U S C O M M E R C I A L D E V E L O P M E N T O'Malia is an architect with GO Logic and OPAL in Belfast. As he designed high-performance buildings that require more and thicker insula- tion, he faced a dilemma: Buildings designed to use less energy are beholden to insulation products that are created by processes with huge car- bon impact, and they're not biodegrad- able or recyclable."e choices were unbearable," he says. In 2016 he and Henry, at the time a University of Maine chemist, decided to see if they could produce the same kind of wood fiber insulation that's been used in Europe for years. "I'm an architect, you're a chemist — we should be able to collaborate on something," O'Malia remembers saying. Henry took a sample of insula- tion produced by Homeotherm, in Germany, to the University of Maine composites lab to see if he could fig- ure it out. 'What doesn't make sense?' Henry created a product, they reached out to Homeotherm for guidance, and eventually developed a business plan. "It looked doable," O'Malia says. "e costs are low, the market huge." It seemed too obvious, in fact. "I kept asking 'What doesn't make sense?'" he says. "But we decided we're going to keep going until we find something wrong. We kept going, and kept going, and there was no reason to stop." By 2017 they'd formed GO Lab and were thinking about location. C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » www.bowmanconstructors.com P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y G O L A B R E N D E R / C O U R T E S Y G O L A B What will Timber Pure Technologies make? The insulation made from wood chips — softwood waste from lumber produc- tion — will take advantage of wood's ability to sequester carbon, and makes the three products different in several ways from foam fossil-fuel insulation. Timber Pure products don't trap moisture, can be recycled without specialized equipment, are nontoxic and biodegradable. EM [embodied carbon] Board, a weather resistant, rigid insulating board is for continuous exterior insula- tion between sheathing and siding. It's moisture and mold resistant, so can be exposed to the environment for up to three months during construction. Its carbon footprint is four times better than that of foam plastic boards and seven times better than mineral wool board, its main competitors. EM Batt, for wall cavities and a replacement for fiberglass and mineral wool batt, is safe to handle and, because of the density of wood fiber, muffles sound well. Its carbon footprint is five times better than fiberglass and seven times better than mineral wool. EM Pack, loose-fill wood fiber, is a replacement for cellulose insu- lation made from recycled news- paper. Cellulose shares many of wood fiber's advantages, but with the decline of newspapers, is no longer as available. S O U R C E : Timber Pure Technologies Environmental Impact Statement

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