Turning the customers' dreams into reality: R-PLUS homes: modern technology to help energy dilemma.

• Author: Martin, Gary L.

Energy conservation is now more than a fact of life for Alaskans. With the price of oil busting through the $75-a-barrel mark in April, conserving energy has become a way of life.

One primary area of concern, related to energy in Alaska, is heating homes in the winter. Fuel costs are rising and the supplies are dwindling. And, in some of the rural Native villages, it is an issue that has reached desperate proportions.

One answer is simple; build more energy-efficient buildings. Back in the "Good old days," when the chill spilled in through less-than-tight seals between windows and walls or around ill-fitted doors, no one really cared; people would just crank up the thermostat until it again became comfortable. Fuel was cheap and there was plenty of it.

Wow! What a difference a few years can make.

A STEP AHEAD

Although there are companies currently building energy-efficient structures from insulated panels, the folks at R-PLUS, a division of Imperial Manufacturing Co., say they have a product that is a little different and a lot more efficient.

Jerry Haines, the corporate representative in Alaska, says their panels, the basic building block for their structures, came about in a kind of backward way; the panels were originally designed to keep the cold in and warmth out. Imperial Manufacturing, based in Portland, Ore., builds large commercial refrigerators and cold-storage facilities, using Imperial foam-insulated panels.

"I have been associated with Imperial for 28 years," said Haines. "It was my concept to use these panels to build super-insulated homes. When I arrived in Alaska, it was obvious to me that we needed a better way to insulate homes and conserve energy.

"I started talking about conserving energy, but no one really cared. Now we see what is happening."

R-PLUS has been in the forefront of developing new ideas in reducing energy costs for the commercial and residential users. Their product's R-values go up to R-56. R-values are the industry's way of rating insulation products. The higher the R-value, the more insulating capacity that product has.

R-56 is far above any basic requirement for housing. Haines claims that homes built with R-PLUS can reduce energy consumption between 50 percent and 75 percent.

"I have recently read reports from national resource guides that tell of future oil prices jumping up to as much as $200 a barrel in the next 20 to 30 years," said Haines. "Even if this is only half true, which isn't far from...