Is Your Insulation Bad For the Environment?
by Susan Kraemer in Green Building/Remodeling, Insulation
Uh-oh. Turns out that many of the insulation materials we use to reduce our energy use (and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions), are themselves producers of extremely potent greenhouse gases. How bad? Try up to 1,430 times.
You are better off using a fiberglass like CertainTeed’s Sustainable Insulation, or mineral wool, or cellulose, like old denim jeans (Bonded Logic). These are safe for the climate.
Because it is made of hydrofluorocarbons, the worst insulation material is extruded polystyrene, (like in Dow Styrofoam or blueboard, and Owens Corning Foamular or pinkboard), which has a global warming potential (GWP) of 1,430 times that of carbon dioxide. It has R-5 insulating properties.
Spray polyurethane foam, typically air-sprayed into building cavities, onto a foundation walls, or onto roofs, has an R-6 insulating value, so it has slightly more insulation bang for the buck paid to future climates, because its global warming potential (GWP) is only 1,030 times that of CO2. But safer would be to use the water-blown kind of spray polyeurethane.
In the June issue of Environmental Building News John Straube and Daniel Bergey of Building Science Corporation join with Building Green to analyze in depth the cost/benefit ratio, including how much actually leaks out during a building’s typical 50 to 100 year lifetime versus how much fossil energy is not used to keep the house warm or cooled in that time.
Bookmark it to check out the pros and cons before you retrofit.
Source: Building Green
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Posted on Jul 13, 2010
global warming potential, GWP, Insulation
About the Author
Susan Kraemer
Susan Kraemer is a transplanted Kiwi retired from three design businesses she started from humble beginnings in N.Y.C. and California, who now lives in the Bay Area. She enjoys living and writing in a gorgeous house her husband designed and built years ago overlooking the San Francisco Bay in the East Bay Hills. She is thrilled to have just eliminated her electric bill through SunRun which makes it free to go solar, and she thinks you should look into getting $0 down solar too (in CA, AZ, CO, MA, PA, and NJ) She works to publicize the many great solutions to climate change we can find if we just put our minds to it.Trackbacks/Pingbacks
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[...] It is hot out there! We know that insulation helps us run that air conditioner a bit less, but what you might not know is that there are lots of different insulation options, and certain types are much more environmentally sound than others. Insulators like spray foam contain harsh chemicals and even emit greenhouse gases! [...]
[...] It is hot out there! We know that insulation helps us run that air conditioner a bit less, but what you might not know is that there are lots of different insulation options, and certain types are much more environmentally sound than others. Insulators like spray foam contain harsh chemicals and even emit greenhouse gases. [...]