Choosing The Right Green Insulation

This is the second of a six-part series on how you can greenhab your home or investment property using green materials. In our first post, we took a look at flooring; over the coming weeks, we’ll be taking a look at appliances, lighting and more. Stay tuned!

Choosing the right insulation can be one of the more difficult choices when it comes to greenhabbing or building a home.

For one, there are a lot of different products on the market, pretty much all of whom make competing claims of being the greenest, the cheapest, the safest, the most efficient, and so on.

Then there’s the fact that it can be difficult to know, prior to actually installing and testing insulation, how effective it will be in your home –– and then once it’s installed, as many of us know, it’s a pain (not to mention expensive) to redo.

What’s not in doubt is what a difference good insulation makes. Properly insulating a home’s walls and ceilings can save you significant money when it comes to heating and cooling costs. By preventing the growth of mold in the walls, insulation also improves your home’s indoor air quality.

The most common forms of insulation are fiberglass and cellulose. Though cheap, fiberglass has a heap of embodied energy, and usually only contains a small amount of recycled material. It can also release eye, nose and throat irritants, and be dangerous to install without the right safety gear.

Spray foam insulation, meanwhile, is petroleum based, so is a long way from anything you might consider green or renewable.

Happily, though, there a growing number of clean, green and efficient insulation alternatives on the market. Let’s take a look at the best of them.

Greensulate

Greensulate (pictured above) is perhaps the most innovative green insulation on the market. It’s grown rather than manufactured, which means far less emissions and resources are used in its construction.

The ingenious process involves using fungi to bond agricultural byproducts, resulting in a super efficient rigid board insulation that’s completely safe –– so safe, in fact, that it poses no allergy risks and can be installed without any special safety gear.

The only cons at this stage are Greensulate’s limited availability, and the fact it’s only available as rigid board.

Cellulose

Cellulose insulation is made out of recycled newsprint and other paper sources. Cellulose can be put into walls as a house is being built, or blown into sheetrocked walls and attic spaces and for extra thermal protection.

Cellulose insulation is becoming increasingly popular: it’s been successfully installed in over one million homes in the UK alone. US company GreenFiber offers a range of cellulose insulation products, all of which contain a minimum of 85% recycled material.

The only cons with cellulose insulation are that it can settle if blown in dry, and can also absorb moisture.

Wool

Oregon Shepherd are one of a number of companies manufacturing totally natural wool insulation. Oregon Shepherd, however, claim that their product is the ‘only loose fill, blown-in wool insulation in the world.’

The company offers both batt and loose fill insulation products, both of which, according to the company, are fire, vermin and mold resistant. Importantly, they’re also non-toxic, which means they’re safe to install yourself.

Wool insulation has a lot of other things going for it: it can absorb and release moisture, which helps maintain a constant temperature; it’s also resilient, and can help absorb toxins in the home.

Oregon Shepherd’s wool insulation is totally recyclable and renewable, which makes it a truly green product. The only downsides: it’s quite a bit more expensive than traditional insulation, and is not yet widely available.

Air Krete

Ait Krete is an innovative cement-based foaming insulation. It has a high and long-lasting insulation value, is non-toxic and mold resistant, and doesn’t burn or release any smoke.

Air Krete’s makers claim that the insulation is also 100% cavity filling, and that it won’t expand, shrink or settle. What’s more, it can also be used as a soundproofing tool, and is among the cheaper green insulation products on the market.

The cons? It’s still somewhat limited in its availability, and there’s a fair bit of embodied energy involved in its manufacture.

Mineral Wool

Mineral wool insulation is made out of what’s known as steel slag, a byproduct of steel manufacturing consisting of limestone and dirt. To turn it into insulation, slag is combined with chemicals and heated and spun into a fibrous material.

The resulting product is rated as being almost as efficient as traditional fiberglass insulation. It’s also mold and fire proof, and is extremely resilient and long lasting.

On the negative side, mineral wool insulation can release some eye, nose and throat irritants, and is primarily available in batt form, which some have reported difficulties in installing.

Beyond these five, there are a number of other green insulation options, including denim and hemp insulation. Each have their own advantages and drawbacks, and should be looked at in the context of the home you’re insulating and your budget.

Getting the right insulation is a critical part of greening your home. Thankfully, there are more and more green insulation options to choose from, which means more choice, but also more claims, counterclaims and greenwashing.

Which means the most important step you can take in insulating your home is to first get properly informed.