"green" insulation...
 

For who knows how many years now I've been contemplating turning my garage into "useful" space (ie. year round usable and therefore insulated), this year I'm doing it... one side opens onto the driveway, other on to our field and the other onto our pool... think family friendly "man-cave"... it's about 1,500 sq ft (big), no interior cladding (dry wall or anything) so it's open to the frame... wondering if anyone had any recommendations on good "eco friendly" insulation. I've read about the recycled "blue jean" stuff, no experience with it... any ideas?

Thx,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy

I've only read about the blue jean material. I've never actually seen it for sale, so I have no idea what the costs are. Personally, I think dense pack (for walls) and blown (attic/ceiling) cellulose is a great option. If I recall correctly the R value is higher than the blue jean insulation. Its also very affordable and easy to install.

It doesn't have to have a super high R value... we're in the woods, Northwest CT, in Litchfield County - this past winter the mercury was hitting zero and we had snow the likes of which I've never seen in 30 plus years we've lived there.That being said, the "Garage / Man-Cave / Game Room / Pool House" will only really be used 8 or 9 months out of the year.

I've seen the blue jean stuff for sale, mostly online. Found it a trade show years ago... I'm tempted to stick with the dense pack for no better reason than "fear of the unknown". Thus my reason for asking... Will keep looking and keep posting to this thread as I discover different options.

Thx,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy

Cellulose is made out of recycled news paper, it is about as environmentally friendly as you are going to find, the blue jean insulation is more of a gimmick then anything else from what I can tell, same with the wool insulation.
so if you are going to insulate, do it right and insulation is permanent so make sure it counts, even using foam is not bad if you take in to account that it will last 100 years and help save energy for 100 years.

Good point, and that's kind of what I thought... I'll look into the cellulose.

Good feedback, thanks people...

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy

In walls, particularly balloon framed walls, I like blown in fiberglass much more than cellulose. Fiberglass won't settle hardly at all, and it doesn't absorb moisture, and it is not dusty. In attic floors, I think cellulose is fine, if the ventilation above the insulation is good, and the vapor barrier is pretty good.

In the Passive house projects I have looked over, I see lots of cellulose being used with a very aggressive packing scheme.

It is packed tight enough that settling is not an issue.

The walls are sealed up tight enough that air passage is not an issue, so 'dust' is not an issue.

The thermal gradient is controlled so that the dew point is never reached inside a wall.

The energy to make it is markedly less than fiberglass.

And there's plenty of carbon being sequestered.

-AC_Hacker

FYI - "Due to air circulation and natural convection, the R-value of blown-in fiberglass insulation decreases by as much as 50% as the temperature drops from 45°F to 18°F."

From: NRDC: A Comparative look at Fiberglass and Cellulose Insulation

Goodbye fiberglass, hello cellulose...

-AC_Hacker

I'd always heard cellulose was highly flammable. What is different from the past where it was outlawed for use, to now where its the magic ingredient?