I have a friend who wants to introduce ICF in Taiwan. ICF is insulated concrete form, meaning foam bricks that are hollow in the center, where reinforcements are inserted. The whole work is then filled with concrete and the form is left in place as insulation (as you know concrete is a piss poor insulating material).
However this friend is working multiple jobs, and so are his associates it seems and the pacing of this deal has been glacial. I asked why no one used it in Taiwan and he said “they never heard of it”. I said I don’t believe it. There is no way the entire construction industry in Taiwan, who specializes in concreting everything in sight, not know about ICF. I said there has to be a reason why it’s not used here.
So can any structural engineers or construction workers here tell me why might ICF not be used in Taiwan? I looked very quickly on Alibaba and there are a huge number of Chinese makers who makes it, so I don’t believe nobody in Taiwan heard of it.
I heard someone said that insulation is only to keep heat in, as in it saves utilities in cold climates. So does it not work the other way around? As in insulation doesn’t really keep heat out and reduce air conditioning usage, so this could be the biggest reason why they are not even thought of in Taiwan (as it never goes below 5 degrees C).
As far as I know, ICF saves a lot of labor and the forms can then be used as basis for insulation and wiring, eliminating the need to have specialized space for those.
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Reviving an old thread because I am thinking the same things about ICF.
I think it is that architects, planners, permitting people, and builders are not familiar with it. So, nobody would give bank loans for it.
Furthermore, the labor cost savings (low labor costs, still) and energy cost savings (lifetime) may not be that high for this mild climate.
I looked into it in Thailand and they have an insulated plywood board. It isn’t used in home construction, but it is used frequently in refrigerated warehouses. So there might be a market relating to refrigerated warehouses. This would be where I would guess ICF would emerge first in Taiwan.
Custom homes tend to like design and fancy, so even concrete is not that popular. I think stone tends to win. It costs more, but stone houses sell for more too and offsets the increased price.
I would doubt ICF has a price premium. Only for geeky engineers who like new tech (my guess).
Is your friend in ICF still looking into it?
I don’t think so, and he doesn’t really have the organizational skills to run a multi million us dollar company, because that’s what it would take.
Insulation only works when the temperature difference is high, even in the middle of summer you only needed a 10 degree temperature difference to be comfortable. But for say Canada you need a 30 degree or more temperature difference to keep things from freezing, so insulation is going to result in a much lower energy cost.
For refrigerators they’re not going to use ICF because unless you’re building a bunch of freezer warehouse, it will not scale well.
There are a few other big benefits, but only if the good thermal insulation is paired with good air sealing, like for the german PassivHaus standard.
The biggest one in Taiwan would be to manage humidity and moisture issues, which cripples many buildings.
But cheap homes that have to be renovated in about 30 years (?? 15-40 years) due to (preventable) moisture issues is probably the norm in Taiwan. I am wildly guessing that Taiwan lacks extended builder responsibility or long term builder guarantees. (My evidence is not that I looked extensively; just that (1) such things are very uncommon, even in richer countries and (2) you hear stories of bad buildings having issues after 10 years. I would love to be proven wrong)