The technology, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, EPA and others, works from inside the shaft to find and seal leaks. Aeroseal’s HomeSeal duct sealing technology was announced as the winner of the 2016 AHR Expo "Product of the Year" award. Aeroseal was also designated as an "Innovation" award-winning product in advance of the AHR Expo, Jan. 25-27. “We are pleased to honor Aeroseal with this award, recognizing that it offers a groundbreaking solution to an industry-wide problem,” said Clay Stevens, president of IEC. “For decades, ventilation issues have gone untreated, simply because there was no viable solution to sealing otherwise hard-to-access leaks. Aeroseal’s technology has taken this complex issue and made it into a relatively simple task. Vicki Auditore and Neal Walsh with Aeroseal's AHR Expo Innovation award and Product of the Year award. Photo by Terry McIver With HomeSeal, Aeroseal has provided the industry’s first alternative to traditional manual duct sealing products. The aerosol-based solution works from the inside of ventilation shafts to “seek” and bond-seal targeted leaks, rather than coating the entire inside of the shaft with sealant. The technology, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, EPA and others, works from inside the shaft to find and seal leaks. Aeroseal’s solution, which eliminates the need to disrupt or destroy current construction, provides much-anticipated relief to HVAC contractors, for whom accessing exhaust shafts in existing buildings was previously difficult, if not impossible, without major demolition. This duct sealing technology has been employed to fix critical ventilation issues in numerous buildings and facilities, including hospitals and multi-story apartment buildings. “Almost every home in the United States has residential duct leakage that keeps as much as 30 percent of air in a given home out of occupied spaces,” said Neal Walsh, senior vice president of strategy and commercial sales at Aeroseal. “This results in a huge loss of energy, but until now solving the problem has typically required major disruption to home interiors. Our technology allows a contractor to seal up duct work that’s already been installed, improving both comfort and energy savings. “We are excited and proud to have received this award, and consider it a big step forward for our industry,” Walsh continued. “We’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of positive response and are now more motivated than ever to create solutions to ventilation problems. After years of attending AHR Expo, we’ve become great believers in the show and its value as a connecting point and as a platform to raise awareness.”