Insulation Saves You Money on Utility Bills – and It Can Be Eco-friendly
Because heating and cooling your home uses the most energy, it makes sense to look at this area to try to use less power – it will save you money and help the environment.
We looked at ways of using your air-conditioning more efficiently; today we’re going to look at insulating your house.
Insulation in your home means that the temperature becomes more even, therefore it’s easier to heat or to cool your house.
Insulation provides great benefits when:
- You pay high energy bills
- You live in a climate with great variations in temperature – for example, between night and day or summer and winter
- You make a new addition to your home
- Your house was built before 1980 – it may not have enough insulation built in
- You are uncomfortably hot or uncomfortably cold
- You have condensation – insulation can reduce it
- You have noisy surroundings – insulation can muffle noise
The most common insulation in the US is fibreglass – the pink stuff that looks like cotton candy. It is, in general, the cheapest choice of insulating materials. It’s pretty horrible to work with – it’s made up of tiny fibres, quite similar to the structure of asbestos – so installers have to wear protective clothing and masks. Once it’s in place, however, and if it’s not disturbed, then the fibres don’t float around much. Personally, I’m a little concerned about having a product in my home which can’t be handled without protection, so in my next blog, I’ll look at some eco-friendly alternatives to fibreglass. But the fact remains that insulation is very worthwhile in terms of reducing energy consumption.
Photo credit: Atlanta Insulation
Clare, if someone is missing 20 square feet of insultaion properly placed it dropeds the effective value in half even if the rest of the home is covered correctly
Scott Sylvan Bell
My house is constructed using cement blocks . Not super pretty , but the climate control inside the house is great . Have the fibreglass insulation in the roof . I won’t steal your thunder by suggesting a equivalent type we also use here in Oz .
I’m right there with you on the 1st choice of insulation being an irritant…
Hi Green Goddess,
I’m with you that I’m interested in discovering what might be a more eco-friendly option for insulation of a home. Looking forward to your next blog post in this series on ways to make your house more ecologically friendly.
Happy Dating and Relationships,
April Braswell
We live in a small cottage-like three-level and each level is a different temperature. Wonder if altering how it’s insulated would affect those temperatures. Look forward to reading more.
Peggy
Absolutely your insulation affects the temperature! Some parts may be insulated more than others, there may be dampness (which affects the ability of insulation to work fully), and insulation efficiency decreases over time, so you may have different ages of insulation in your home. No real way of telling other than opening up parts to look inside.
Insulation is a fairly inexpensive way to reduce energy costs. Improving the R value has great benefits.
I have used the icky pink stuff and its not nice to work with, but it did improve the energy efficiency of my old old house. Looking forward to your recommendations!
Sonya Lenzo