Eagle Shield
Space-Age Insulation Brought Down to Earth
By Cecil Scaglione

"You're already paying for his product," said Garrett Harwood, "You just don't have it installed."

He's talking about Eagle Shield, a space-age-technology insulation that he says cuts utility bills by as much as 44 percent in extreme climates. The money you're wasting on energy costs could be paying for what resembles aluminum foil to keep your home cool during hot weather and warm during cool, said the 47-year-old chief executive officer and founder of Eagle Shield Inc., which has offices serving both southern and northern California.

He co-founded the firm in 2003 after studying the product and process developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to protect space voyagers in the extreme temperatures in outer space.

Under the name Eagle Shield, which the company manufactures at a Texas facility, it is the only form of radiant reflecting insulation certified by the Space Foundation, a non-profit coalition that works with NASA to, among other things, recognize innovators who transform technology originally developed for space use into commercial products.

"NASA cared about life and death in space," Harwood said, explaining that the space scientists had come up with a material to protect astronauts in a hostile environment with temperatures that range from 250 degrees Fahrenheit on the sunny side of their space suits to 460 degrees below zero on the dark side at the same time.

The result is the shiny reflective insulting material seen in home-repair supply stores across the nation.

Harwood said Eagle Shield is the product closest to meeting NASA specifications. "Ours is 95.5 percent aluminum, which makes it highly efficient in reflecting heat." To clarify, he said the rolls of aluminum foil around the house contain just a bit more than 20 percent aluminum, which reflects heat. The rest comprises metals that conduct heat. "That's why you can wrap up a turkey in that foil and cook it in the oven."

"Traditional forms of insulation, such as cellulose, fiberglass and foam, absorb heat," said Harwood, "like a sponge does to water."

"It's 19th century technology."

Covering your attic, and wrapping your air ducts and water heater with Eagle Shield's laminated "high-performance reflective insulation" is more efficient because it reflects 97 percent of the heat, which means it sheds almost all of the hot air in summer and retains almost all of it inside the home during winter.

Use of this space-age product got a boost when government regulations established energy-efficient standards for new buildings a couple of decades ago. He adds that Eagle Shield will do to other forms of insulation what the car did to the horse and the compact disk did to the tape cassette.

Its popularity and prospects look so shiny that his company is poised to begin selling franchises later this year.

"Besides getting a tax credit when you install Eagle Shield, the savings in your utility bills should pay for it in three to five years," he said.

Harwood likes to point out that the concept of reflecting radiant insulation is simple. "This isn't rocket science," he adds. "Wait a minute, it is rocket science."

Garrett Harwood
CEO, Eagle Shield Inc.
cell: 925-577-1210 / office: 800-811-0466
6250 Village Parkway, Ste #250 / Dublin, Ca 94568
email: gharwood@eagleshieldinc.com
www.EagleShield.com