Oct 14 2009
CleanBoard, Inc. today announced it has changed its name to GlassPoint Solar, Inc. and revealed new products that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources.
GlassPoint sells solar equipment that generates industrial process heat at a lower cost than heat produced by burning natural gas.
GlassPoint’s cost savings are achieved by using lightweight mirrors manufactured using advanced composite materials originally developed for the aerospace industry instead of the glass and steel structures used in other solar thermal designs.
Previously the company planned to use its breakthrough solar technology to manufacture gypsum wallboard in its own factories. Now the company is working with major wallboard manufacturers to retrofit their factories to use solar industrial process heat.
“By converting existing drywall factories to solar power instead of building new ones, we will make a larger impact on climate change sooner that we otherwise would,” said Rod MacGregor, CEO and co-founder of GlassPoint solar. “In the time it takes to build one million square feet of new drywall production capacity we can convert one billion square feet of existing capacity to clean energy.”
The impact on emissions will be dramatic. Every thousand square feet of drywall produced requires approximately 2.5 million BTUs of natural gas to be burned emitting 293 pounds of CO2 in the process. There are 35 drywall plants in the US Southwest with a total production capacity of 16 billion square feet per annum. Converting them to solar power would reduce CO2 emissions by over 4.7 billion pounds per year. That is the equivalent of removing half a million cars from the road1.
GlassPoint’s technology is not limited to providing energy for drywall manufacture and can be also used in any industrial process that burns natural gas to produce heat, including enhanced oil recovery. GlassPoint is already in discussion with several companies and municipalities about using its technology.
“By making renewable energy lower cost than natural gas we have created an incredible incentive for industry to switch from burning fossil fuels. It’s a classic triple bottom line: better for people, better for the planet and better for profit,” said MacGregor.
Source: http://www.glasspoint.com /