The Joy of Insulation

So this week was all about insulation!

Insulation is one of the most important parts of a building because it is the one thing that determines the temperature, and how much energy is used to heat and cool the building daily. It doesn't really matter how sustainable the flooring or windows or roofing is, because if you have poor insulation your energy consumption will cancel out the sustainability of the other materials.

I began researching the different possible types and as you can imagine there are hundred and hundreds of types of insulation. Mainly because there are so many different raw materials that can make up the insulation, and different buildings require different insulation that matches the function of the building. For example, an office building that runs all year will have pretty thick and complex insulation to maintain the temperature all day and not have a huge energy bill at the end of each year. But other buildings such as warehouses or car garages that tend to be used for short periods of time have very minimal insulation. And then there are other buildings, like I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, that use recycled denim jeans as efficient insulation. All these different variables open a wide range of materials for me to look at so I am trying to narrow it down to either the most common type used, or just what is used here in Flagstaff on the N.A.U. campus.